‘I’m very hungry’, says 90-year-old IDP who returned to bomb scene to search for burnt potatoes

Zahrah Musa, a 90-year-old internally displaced person (IDP), who survived a bomb attack in Maiduguri on Wednesday returned to the scene of the explosion to save potatoes which she bought the previous day.

While other IDPs kept a safe distance, Zahrah searched her burnt tent in an effort to recover the potatoes.

The woman, who kept saying “I am very hungry,” ignored emergency rescue workers from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) who tried to stop her.

Not minding the injury she sustained in the explosion, Zahrah kept insisting that getting back her food was important.

When it became obvious she would not budge, a NEMA official had to carry her to a mobile ambulance to treat her bleeding legs.

In spite of her condition, the woman continued to protest, saying she must be allowed to get back her potatoes, which she bought at N300.

The scene of the early morning attack at Muna garage was an unofficial IDP camp, where people live on their own without access to the food rations provided by government and other support groups.

But Satomi Ahmed, chairman of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), has promised that the state government would provide relief materials to those living in such camps.

The attacks led to the deaths of seven people, including the three suicide bombers, while 18 IDPs were severely injured.

The injured were taken to the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital for medical attention.