DAMATURU, YOBE, ON MY MIND by PAUL ORUDE
Is there any Nigerian adult living both within and outside this country that hasn’t heard of Damaturu, the capital of Yobe State?  Known as the Young Shall Grow, Yobe, carved out of Borno State in 1991, was an emerging north east state with lots of promise. I was born in this beautiful semi desert town in the 1970s but taken to Warri as a little boy. After my primary school education at Olodi , Warri , I returned to Damaturu in 1986 for my secondary school education. As a Wafi, area guy, it was difficult for me to adjust at first when I first arrived Damaturu. I was Ba Hausa. I spoke clean Wafi Pidgin English. Boy it was a big contrast.  But trust area na. Within a short period I quickly acclimatized and made friends. I also started secondary school and it was fun. Among my friends then till this day are Igbos, (The Oragbunams) Kanuris, (Bilkisu, Kyari)  Yorubas (Kehinde, Alaba etc) among other ethnic groups. There was no Boko Haram. It was so peaceful. It was memorable. We lived as One Nigerians. I never felt any element of discrimination because I was Urhobo. Today a seed of hate has been sowed and sadly, ignorant Nigerians who have never travelled outside their place of birth, speakj nothing bt hate about other people and tribes. My parents had been here for decades. Damaturu, Oh Damaturu. It was a place to be, for me. I haven’t been there for almost  10 years after my university education and national youth service.  But I always remember DT with nostalgia. I reminisce over my boyhood life there whenever a bomb explodes and many are killed. Is this the same Damaturu I lived? It was an unbelievable transformation.  Man’s inhumanity to man. The last time I was in Damaturu was in 2007, to visit my elder brother, Peter. Peter and all his friends have fled now. They are scattered-some to Abuja, others to the east. Peter moved his family to Warri and adjusting to the new life was hell. Naija. Some of his business associates in Damaturu were killed. What used to be a thriving commercial town had been shattered by insurgency. Me, I didn’t have the  gut or ‘liver’ to go back. But I have colleagues like Alkassim Bala of Radio Nigeria who are still working  and living there. Well, I plan to go there early June. I long to see my Damaturu or DT as we used to call it then. Will I still see the house I used to stay at Abasha ward? What about the Igbo quartres?  What of that old Kanuri man that was so fond of me? Are the beautiful houses in the GRA and the places around Federal Poly Damaturu, where my friend Celestine Oreagbuna lived still standing? I plan to go there  first week of June to do a story as part of the activities to mark the 2016 Day of the African Child (DAC). As usual, the DAC for this year will hold on 16 June. The theme for this year’s event is, “Conflict and Crisis in Africa: Protecting all Children’s Rights”. As a teenager schooling in Damaturu, I never knew conflict. But sadly, today, thousands of Yobe children have been orphaned, rendered homeless while their education has stopped. What if I was one of them? Will I be where I am today?  I intend to tell their stories and give a voice to these kids caught in the Boko Haram insurgency.  They hold the future of our dear country. What is happening to the kids caught in the insurgency crisis? Where are they? I want to go and see my beloved Damaturu, and even Buni Yade? Remember Buni Yadi? Sad. This was where some Boko Haram members entered a school, the Federal Government College, and slaughtered 44 students.  Peter’s son John was in JSS 2. In the  heat of the insurgency, I advised him to transfer his son to a school in Warri. He was reluntanct. Why cant he remain there and spend holidays with me in Bauchi. Umm. Difficyult prepositonj. Who will go to B/Yadi to fetch him during holidays? I defineitly cant risk my life doing that and the child should not be subjected to such risk. Peter agreed in the end and took John to a private school in Warri.  The next term, just less then three months, the BH struck in John’s former school. What if John was still there? One of the teachers who escaped told me the gory details of massacre of innocent teenage students. But Buni Yadi used to be a melting point. A place to be. My father used to do business there in those good old days and even built a big mud house with several rooms which was big enough for my elder brother to use for Cinema business which thrived in the late 90s and early 2000. Mmmm. Do people still watch cinema, with bombings, killings, and curfew? I know  most youngsters then  before the advent of smart phones, internet and laptops, used to troop to my brother’s cinema in their hundreds to watch premier league matches, India films and Kannywood movies and of course the popular Ibro, of blessed memory used to be a hit. Buni Yadi was a lovely place, just like Damaturu, inhabited by Igbos, Yorobas, Hausa and many other tribes, all co-existing in peace and unity, a mini dream Nigeria. It was also a thriving commercial town. Not was Buni Gari, another great place, with a railway track jutting through, suggesting its commercial strength. And Buni Yadi is not far from Goniri, where the former governor and now a senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim hail from. Well let me not bore you anymore. I will surely come back with interesting jists, I promise you. But  pray for me ooo. I also intend to touch Gashua. I love Gashua. My father once lived there before migrating to DT. Mhhh. Gashua, the headquarter of Bade. These places are nice to be. Take time to travel down, especially now that the insurgency has abated. What about the Emir of Bade? I longed to see him. He is a courageous  leader and one of the first if not only traditional ruler  in the whole county to openly oppose ex president Obasanjo's third term bid in an exclusive interview I had with him back then when there were mixed reactions to the plot to elongate OBJ’s tenure by amending the Nigeria constitution. Can it happen in Nigeria? Well it didn’t happen thanks to the National Assembly, Nigerians, the media and courageous leaders like the Emir of Bade. Pls follow my blog for more information on my DT, Yobe trip. When exactly do I want to leave? I keep that to my chest. Who knows, I may be there already or have even left last month