Modu Bintumi was sleeping peacefully with his wife and eight children that Tuesday when, just before dawn, they were jolted awake with the news that Boko Haram was about to raid their village in Borno State, northeastern Nigeria.
He quickly carried a wheelbarrow with some of his children inside to flee.
“We left everything behind and fled,” he recounted, adding that they have not returned since.
The family travelled for two days before reaching Maiduguri, the state capital. “We had nothing to eat during that time. We survived by finding ways to make do in the forest. From there, we went to Mamuri before finally arriving here,” he said.
Like many others in the community who fled that night, Modu left behind his livelihood, that is, his farms, which he described as his “main concern”. “We want to go back and check on our farms and retrieve our belongings, but I am afraid,” he added.
Modu’s life has changed since he fled. He once had a steady daily routine: waking up in the morning, eating, going to the farm, returning home to bathe, visiting friends, and praying. Now in Maiduguri, he spends most of his days lost in restless thought, reflecting on the life he left behind and the farms that once sustained him.
“I had planted millet, groundnuts, beans, and other crops, but I fear that most of them have spoiled by now. I keep thinking of my valuables, and that’s why I’m looking worried and slimming,” he said, adding that fleeing has cost him around ₦5 million.
“We need the government to help us according to its capacity,” Modu told HumAngle.
HumAngle reached out to the Borno State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) to enquire about any response plans for the affected populations. There had been no response yet at press time.
For Falmata Ahmed, the loss cuts even deeper. Her husband has been missing since the attack. He fled moments before Boko Haram stormed in and has not returned since. Now, living alone and caring for her three children. She longs to return to her village not only to resume her life but also to search for her missing husband.
“I am hoping to see my husband,” she said.
“We’re currently waiting for our village to become peaceful so we can return to our farms,” Falmata added. “If the situation doesn’t normalise, we’ll have to stay here. Our main desire is to have access to our farms and return to our village when it’s safe.”
The influx of displaced people into Maiduguri and other major towns has increased since the beginning of 2025 as Boko Haram’s continuous violence sweeps through villages and repatriated communities in the region.
In August alone, the terror group attacked more than ten villages in Magumeri Local Government Area, ransacking homes. Thousands of families have been forced to flee, abandoning their ripening crops, destroyed homes, and looted communities, and are now scattered in search of safety, food, and shelter.
One of the terrorised villages is Kriwari, where Falmata and Modu fled from. Its 65-year-old head, Bulama Umara Kanami, and his three wives and 28 children, watched as the terrorists stormed in on motorcycles, firing shots and scattering the entire community.
Bulama said “no single person remained” in the village of over 1000 households.
Listing other villages that had been emptied, Bulama named Malabari, Borkawuri, Bulumdi, Kurumri, Sadiri, Abachari, Abchuri, Titiya, and several others.
“We were all chased away with our children,” Bulama said.
Although traumatising, he said their ordeal in Kriwari was mild compared to what other villages experienced that day, as the terrorists launched simultaneous attacks across multiple communities in the area. At least eight people from Bulama’s village were abducted during the attack, he said. It is, however, unconfirmed if Falamata’s husband was among them.
The attacks took place in the first week of August, right at the peak of the farming season. Crops had already begun sprouting, while others were nearing maturity.
Like Modu and Falmata, Bulama’s deepest regret is abandoning his farm just as the crops ripened. “We left our beans, maize, millet, and groundnuts,” he lamented. “I cultivated a large area inherited from my parents and grandparents. Personally, I lost about ₦8 million. Still, we have faith in God, but we will also be glad if the government can help.”
Since the attack, he said, people have dispersed across Maiduguri, staying with relatives, friends, or setting up makeshift shelters in host communities.
“Actually, my people are in a critical condition due to a lack of good accommodation. Some ran but couldn’t reach here. They were sleeping in the farm among trees, still hiding,” Bulama said. “What I want is for my people to have something to eat and have shelter. This is what I want.”
When HumAngle visited some of the displaced families in Maiduguri, the living conditions were dire. Villagers had fled with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Only a few, they said, had received clothes from kind residents in the host communities.
The series of violence that swept through Magumeri adds to recent attacks, including the killings of at least 60 residents in Darajamal, a community in Bama Local Government Area, just weeks after the attacks in Magumeri. These cases simply indicated sustained Boko Haram violent campaigns targeting rural villages that have been steadily uprooting communities, deepening hunger, and fuelling displacement in areas already struggling with insecurity and fragile humanitarian conditions.
According to Bulama, Kriwari, like some of the other villages, had no form of state security services like the army and members of the Civilian Joint Task Force. Even Babagana Zulum, the state governor, recently admitted that “the numerical strength of the military is not enough to cover everywhere,” leaving communities exposed with little or no protection.
For Bulama, the recent displacement is painfully familiar. “We were displaced about three times before. However, the previous times, we were able to come back and take our belongings and eventually resettled, but this time, we are afraid to go back,” he said.