My Survival Series Pt5: "Life at The Camerounian Border"

As morning came after the long night of cold, we all woke up sitting quietly in our own little space at the camerounian border. as time kept on going, we all felt the need to get some food to eat. so few of us decided to trek into the main town of boukoula which was not far from the border.



When we got to the shops there, Alas! some  of them could speak Hausa language. so i became our mouthpiece as i could speak Hausa too. we got some bread and water and also sought a pharmaceutical store to get some drugs and treatment for one of us who sustained a cut while escaping during the terrorist invasion at Mubi. after all these, we got back to meet the others. we all shared the bread and water. as we  all sat and were discussing, someone came with a report that a friend of mine Abraham fell a victim as he couldn't escape the attack in  Mubi. it hit me so hard in the head but i tried my best to be calm cause no amount of talking or questions about how it happened will bring him back. all i wished was that his soul rests in peace.


    The day kept on moving and people at the border began to seek for the way forward cause we all know that cameroun is not our home. papers containing names of families and groups who ran together were seen everywhere and lots of people were trying to compile their lists too. they said it was an order from the custom unit of cameroun for them to be able to know how many persons were at that particular border where we were so that they could make arrangements for transport back to Nigeria through a safe route. this sounded hopeful to us. so we took a pen and paper and wrote our names and tagged it 'students' cause we all in our survival team were students of the same institution. the lists were submitted and later towards the afternoon, some cars were seen coming to the border somehow ready for movement. we thought that will be it about leaving cameroun but the drivers just packed the vehicles there and left. life at the border became tougher as communication via phone was hard for some of us. international tariff on phone calls deprived some of us calls. but we tried our best to make few calls anyway at least to our parents at home.


Towards the late afternoon hours, we saw people starting their vehicles and moving and we thought the camerounian government has given us the permission to pass through but behold some were asked to go back while some who were Nigerian custom and police officers and their families were allowed to pass and take the safe route to Nigeria. this incident drove Nigerians at the border mad because the men who left were supposed to be the mouthpiece of the Nigerians to the Camerounian custom officers but instead they became selfish by using that influence for themselves alone. but no matter how tough communication becomes, a mouthpiece must surface. an associate Professor with the Adamawa state University Mr. Okoronka became the man of the people  as he began to make calls and pleas on behalf of every Nigerian at the border. he was offered a chance to pass freely but he rejected it by saying that he can't leave this huge crowd here. he gave us hope cause we thought all hope was lost as those officer selfishly left. he went back into the town but returned with no positive results yet. the night approached and we became worried cause the night is usually too cold for us to even sleep.


The night finally came and we knew anything about leaving will be from the next day. we then sought dinner. God used some persons among us to feed all of us cause most of us were with no penny.



TO BE CONTINUED......................!!!!!!


If You Missed My Survival Series Pt4: "The Journey to Cameroun" Click Here