Michika which is the most populated LGA in Adamawa State with about 26 chiefdoms and 84 villages around the mountainous caves had their peace, unity and Joy ceased when Boko Haram began to launch incessant attacks in the entire North Eastern part of Nigeria.
The cosmopolitan town was entirely displaced by Boko Haram insurgents with banks, college of health technology, a technical college and many places of worship destroyed. The town which harbours more than 370,000 people according to the 2006 census, was almost deserted.
Michika was part of the militants’ so-called caliphate, where they hoisted flags and defaced government signboards with Arabic inscriptions, announcing their dominance for seven months.
The people left unceremoniously, their means of livelihood was tampered with, leaving their farms and their business areas for many months. Their farm products and businesses were taken away by the insurgents, leaving them with virtually nothing.
The town was said to have been seized by the Boko Haram terrorists in connivance with some Michika residents in September 2014. It was re-captured by the Nigerian military on January 29, 2015. Since then, no one passed the night in those communities except military personnel.
But hope has returned to the cosmopolitan town as most of the people in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps are finding their way back to Michika.
Speaking to newsmen, a member of the community stated that little or no persons at all were left in the IDP camps, as majority of them had returned home.
“If you go to the villages, all the locals are back, all we require is for the government to create an enabling environment for us, to give us peaceful conditions so that people can go about their normal activities.”
Surprisingly, one Emmanuel Chukwunonso Agbowo, an enterprising young man, who was among the settlers was displaced, with his business totally ravaged by the insurgents has not been seen or found to the chagrin of his friends and associates in Michika, no one has been able to figure out his whereabouts, dead or alive, till date. This has been a bitter pill for his neighbours, for Emma, as they usually called him, was loved and cherished by those around him.
Also the economy of the town is equally yet to bounce back especially as business owners are yet to resume businesses in ernest, but government and NGOs since the beginning of returning of the people to the town, have been making available relief materials and sundry food products. With the poor agricultural output and the loss of other means of livelihood abandoned during the period of Boko Haram occupation, these relief materials are a major source of survival for the people.
– Amos wrote in from Michika