For Victoria Joshua, June 12 began like any other day in the IDPs in Niger state. The mother of three joined dozens of other displaced persons searching for food, water, and answers about when they might return home.
Amid June 12 Democracy Day, Ms Joshua’s thoughts were fixed on the violence that displaced her family from their home by the insurgency ravaging communities in Shiroro LGA.
INSERT PHOTO: Ms Joshua in the Erena IDPs camp, speaking to our reporter. Photo Credit: Peoples Gazette/Yunusa Umar
“The day had no benefit for me, as we are displaced. We have no rest of mind. You could see that the day is useless as our freedom is being deprived of us,” Ms Joshua told Peoples Gazette, squeezing her face.
Ms Joshua was displaced from her village of Jangaru three years ago, but her hope of returning home is not dead. She believed that President Bola Tinubu’s Democracy Day speech would address her angst.
“We have lost many things. Someday, it will become difficult to eat as we lose our belongings to terrorists. We prefer to return to our houses. We don’t know when our next meal will come,” she said, hugging her teen child.
INSERT PHOTO: Women in the Erena IDP camp. Photo Credit: Peoples Gazette| Yunusa Umar
The mother of four would have to go out for menial work to feed her three children. Daily, she engaged in menial work to fend for herself and her children. On unlucky days, the children slept on empty stomachs.
Ms Joshua stated, “The government has not done justice for us. If they had done justice, they would have returned us to our house. Democracy Day has no use here. We would not be in this kind of situation.”
She added that on this Democracy Day, their plight should be looked into, as no amount of relief materials given to them would be enough.
Kabir Yahaya, a 34-year-old displaced terror victim, sat and fixed his eyes on the entrance of Erena IDP camp, hoping to see the government’s emissaries to address their plight of returning home.
Mr Yahaya was a farmer before he was displaced by the terror groups in his Allawa home. He recounted a bountiful harvest before fleeing for his life in the town.
“Democracy Day has no use in my place, considering my plight in this IDP,” Mr Yahaya said.
INSERT PHOTO: Mr Yahaya peeped through the window. Photo Credit: Peoples Gazette/Yunusa Umar
Mr Yahaya added, “Today marks two years since I was displaced from my home. They celebrate their day, but I don’t have business with their celebration because no solution has been provided for the plight of people in this country and IDPs.”
Mr Yahaya looked calm, but his eyes glowed through painful memories that etched in his face, as his children had no access to education since their displacement. Now, he opted for illegal mining to sustain his life and that of his children.
Joshua Bala of Allawa village told The Gazette that the government had failed them and that June 12 meant little to people struggling to rebuild their lives inside the Erena IDP camp.
“I do not see the importance of June 12 to us as displaced people. If democracy is for the people, by the people, then to us it doesn’t look that way. Rather, we are only abandoned, Mr Bala explained.
He blamed the absence of government and their support to the displaced terror victims, noting that Democracy had betrayed their heroes’ struggles.
“Somebody who was displaced from his homeland. There are many challenges that he may face, especially in life, which is very hard for us now,” Mr Bala told The Gazette.
He disclosed several challenges his family had faced, especially struggling to cope daily with a new life in the Niger IDP, which has been a daunting challenge for him.
“There is nothing that the government will do to satisfy us but to return us home because they might feel that they have done enough, but might not be enough.
“Even in IDP here, we have problems with feeding, water, and accommodation, and nothing is easy here. Democracy doesn’t improve our lives. Rather than demoting our lives here,” said Mr Bala.
INSERT PHOTO: Mr Bala in Erena IDPs camp, speaking to our reporter. Photo Credit: Peoples Gazette/Yunusa Umar
Mr Bala noted that he watched parades and other celebrations on TV at home in Allawa, but the government’s failure to address their plight had prevented him from doing so for the past three years.
In his message to elected leaders, Mr Bala said, “They are being elected to defend us, protect us and today with those promises. We end up still calling their attention to the fact that they should not forget.”
Mr Bala noted that being displaced from their farming community for more than a year was a clear sign of the government’s failure and the hardship they continue to endure.
“I want them to return us to our ancestral home. I don’t see any value in democracy. It is not important. In fact, it was paramount before that. Democracy is no longer democracy. It is now an autocracy,” he said.
