At least five women and children died on Saturday, April 18th, 2020 in a stampede when cash and clothes were handed out to thousands of displaced people in Borno, AFP reports.

A large crowd suddenly rushed for the government aid distribution and some people fell down and matched on in Gamboru town, near the Cameroon border, a volatile region hit by jihadist violence.

Five dead bodies, four women and a little girl, were brought to the hospital along with seven injured,” a medical source said at the hospital.

We learned that (other) bodies were identified and claimed by relations from the scene,

the source added without specifying how many.

However, Umar Kachalla, who heads a local anti-jihadist militia force, said:

There was a crush which led to the death of 12 women and children and left seven with severe injuries.

he added that some of the deceased were taken to hospital, while others were claimed at the site of the stampede.

Thousands of women had gathered at an elementary school for handouts of N5,000 (about US$13) and clothes brought by Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum.

Local resident, Yahaya Bukar, who also counted 12 corpses in the morning, said,

There was a stampede as the distribution was about to start,

.

Gamboru, a border trading hub, has been repeatedly terrorized by Boko Haram fighters, starting from August 2014, when the terror group seized the town along with nearby Ngala.

Nigerian troops took back both town after a year, with the help of Chadian soldiers, after a series of offensives that lasted several months.

Some residents returned to both towns, but others numbering about 70,000 live in refugee camps at Gamboru and rely on food aid from international charities.

Fourteen people died on Friday, April 17th, 2020 and fifteen were badly hurt in a blaze in the town’s main refugee camp.

Boko Haram fighters have killed 36,000 people and displaced 1.8 million others from their homes in Nigeria’s northeast. The violence has spilled over to neighbouring countries, namely Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.