Reports say a woman simply identified as Zainab has given birth to a baby boy in the open in the ravaged Mangu town, Plateau State.
Media reports have it that Zainab, who was heavily pregnant when the killings began, recounted how she was terrified by the deafening sounds of guns and the sight of people being murdered. A situation that reportedly led to a feeling of sharp pains in her lower abdomen.
The 25-year-old mother of two disclosed that out of rude shock, her baby slipped out of her while she was standing in the open, leaving her bewildered on what to do.
She stated further; “When I noticed that the baby was coming out, I knelt immediately to ensure the baby was safely delivered. There was no medical assistance, sterilized equipment, or conducive atmosphere. It was a neighbor who stopped to assist me as everyone else fled. There was no hospital nearby. Even right now, we couldn’t take the baby to hospital due to the curfew and my stomach has been hurting badly.
Right now (Wednesday afternoon) there are gunshots everywhere and as for the baby, we haven’t even bathed him since we can’t even get hot water. I also haven’t taken hot water myself,”
As of press time, Zainab noted that she could not find her husband as well as her remaining two kids who wandered away following the unrest.
Also speaking, Shafa’atu, the only neighbor who stayed back to assist deliver Zainab’s baby also narrated what transpired;
“It was in the process of running with the five orphans in my care that I saw her on the streets in a bad situation and everyone was running away. So, I decided to go and help her. I still don’t know the whereabouts of my husband and one of the orphans in my care”.
On her part, another woman, Maryam whose husband was killed in the attack, narrated how she discovered his decapitated body.
“I could not (run?) because I had been sick for the past four months. But after fleeing to a seemingly safe place, we heard that our house was burnt, and my shop and belongings I bought in preparation for my son’s wedding worth millions of naira were burnt. So, I became worried about my kids and started calling my husband’s phone to know where he was. The phone kept ringing and no one to pick and thereafter, it was switched off.
When I finally saw my kids, they also said they were looking for their dad. Then we met a woman who asked if I saw my husband, and she told me where she saw him but pleaded that I had to be patient because he had been killed”.
Meanwhile, Husseina Salihu Maisaje, the sister of Maryam’s husband, also authenticated Maryam’s version of how they uncover the lifeless body of her brother who was also killed in the attack.
She added that most of the women who escaped Tuesday’s attacks were looking for their children.
Recalled that despite the 24-hour curfew imposed by the Plateau state governor on Tuesday 23 attacks and killings in the area have persisted unabated as dozens were reportedly killed on Wednesday 24 January 2024.
