The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Babachir David Lawal has revealed that the Boko Haram insurgency made him an Internally Displaced Person (IDP) for six months in 2014.
He spoke at the 21st Nigerian Economic Summit (NES) in Abuja on Thursday.
According to him, he lost his home, farmland and cattle when his home town in Adamawa State was attacked by the sect.
”Five local governments in the northern senatorial district (of Adamawa) were completely taken over by insurgents. Two local governments in the central senatorial district – mine and the next one on its way to Yola – were completely taken over by insurgents.
“My house was the headquarters of one of the Amir or whatever they call themselves. So, for six months, I was an internally displaced person.”
He added: “Within that period, four people, my younger ones and others were on admission at the hospital in Mubi, the next big town to my own, where there’s some presence of general hospital.
“When Boko Haram entered Mubi, all the people had to evacuate the hospital and run into the mountains, no matter the degree of your sickness. My younger brother whose children were in that hospital, was visiting; he had to evacuate. For two weeks, we didn’t know where they were, because they ran into the mountains.
“The telephones, the base stations had been blown by Boko Haram. In any case, the battery had run out of the telephones. We didn’t know whether they were eating or whether they were dead. We didn’t know where they were.
“The total number of cattle in my village (where) everybody was a livestock keeper was 385. When people had to run for their lives, the last thing they would think about is cows, goats and chickens.