Shocking Things A Mother Did To Her Daughter Just to Outsmart Boko Haram For 9 Months

Shocking Things A Mother Did To Her Daughter Just to Outsmart Boko Haram For 9 Months. A 47-year-old woman recognised as Zainabu Hamayaji, took the biggest risk in life just to outsmart members of Boko Haram in her locality.

Her daughter was just 12 years old when Mrs. Zainabu pushed the little girl into a deep ditch at their backyard one faithful morning in August 2014.

Surprisingly, Zainabu’s action was not to kill the daughter but to safe her from being abducted along with other girls by Boko Haram who invaded their locality at Madagali in Adamawa,North-eastern Nigeria.

Mrs. Zainabu, narrated her story how she outsmarted members of Boko Haram with her tricks, acting like a mad woman.  According to her, she said;

“They killed my husband and many of the men here. Some of my children ran off but the rest of us could not leave the house because they were killing people running out of town. So many people were dying and couldn’t escape.”

“I loosened my hair to look mentally unstable and began to roll on the floor for several hours a day outside our house and in various parts of the town.

“I urinated and defecated on myself and clothes, rubbed both all over my body. My neighbours avoided me just as flies were all over me.

“The Boko Haram extremists were sceptical at first. They had come knocking and a villager mentioned that I had a daughter old enough to be carted away into captivity. When the members of the sect asked me if it was true, I immediately denied it and for that, they dealt with me mercilessly, dislocated my shoulder with their guns and knocked out a tooth from my mouth.

“They didn’t believe me so they came every day. I continued to strip myself unclad, unplait my hair, roll in trash, put poo on my hair to make it seem like I was really mad.

“After a while, they asked my two children if I was okay because they kept doubting me and the two children swore that I my insanity had begun a while ago and that I used to frequent a psychiatric hospital in Maiduguri, the state capital.

“My children would cry as they were talking and the terrorists became afraid of hurting a mad woman so they won’t have a curse on their heads.”

“ As a result of my drama, the insurgents inscribed a warning on my house to deter their Boko Haram comrades who might subsequently visit, from attacking my family.

“They believed that if they killed a madwoman or took her child, their military operations would fail. One of them reminded the others about how their people killed a mad woman on another raid and her curse affected them badly.”

“Many of the other women gave out their daughters to the insurgents in exchange for food items and property stolen from other villages so they could take care of their remaining children – some reluctantly and others happily,” she added.

“While my daughter was still in the ditch, She cooked the food items that I use to pushed in along with several jerry cans of water and matchboxes for her to cook and survive. She defecated in nylon bags that decomposed around her.

I continued to live like a mad woman outside my compound, for nine months until Nigerian soldiers recaptured the town in March 2015 and helped bring out my daughter from the ditch.

“The soldiers asked if I was a wife of Boko Haram and I said no.They didn’t believe my story until we went to the ditch.”
When Hassana, who is now 14, was brought out of the ditch, she was profuse in her gratitude for the depth of her mother’s love even though the older woman does not believe her actions were extraordinary.

Zainabu said Hassana, her daughter told her ‘Mama na gode’ ( Hausa- thank you’). You saved me. Thanks for your wise choices or I’d have been dead.”

After the whole their encounter with the soldiers, the soldiers put them in a vehicle that conveyed them down to Gwoza camp, where Zainabu told her full story.