Bui: man “abducted” by BIR soldiers after fruitless search of his house

A man whose name we got as Wirkom Mohamadou Ayune, 47, was taken away by elements of the BIR on the 27th of June 2020 from his house in Takijah village in the Nkum Sub-division after a surprise early morning raid in the village.

The married father of 5 children was taken by security forces after his house was thoroughly searched in the morning of the raid for evidences of implication but rather felt disappointed as nothing suspicious was found in his house to land him into trouble.

Mohamadou’s wife revealed that the forces invaded the village when they had woken up for their early morning prayers “I was in the room with my husband and my 3 months old son when we heard gunshots and jumped out of bed. My husband asked me to take the children so that we could run away for safety… they smashed opened the door into our corridor and met my husband who lifted up his hands” the distressed wife narrated.

“… The military then held him up and asked where he had kept the Marijuana, but my husband told them he does not deal with Marijuana. So they asked my husband to give them his gun and yet he insisted he owned no gun”.

Safiatu enunciated that while her husband was being questioned by one of the BIR’s, others were seriously searching the house looking for something to implicate him with probably.

“They asked him what he did for a living and he told them he worked at a grinding mill in the village and equally assisted one of his friends in selling at his provision store” she explained that her husband was then taken along with them leaving them threatened and frightened in the house.

“I took my children and my mother-in-law away from the house to a safer place. While we were going, my mother asked me to return to the house and take some cloths for my 3 months old baby. When I got to the house, behold I saw the same amount of BIR at my house with my husband… They were searching the house for the second time. When they were done, they asked me to lock the door then they left again taking my husband along with them” Safiatou lamented.

Frightened as to what might become of her husband, after several days without hearing or seeing her husband since he was taken by the BIR, she started searching for him. “I called his phone several times. It went through for one week but no one picked the call, then it stopped” Safiatou revealed.

“So I went down to Kumbo to search for him. I went to the Brigarde near Maryland but I was told BIR detainees were not kept there. So they refered me to the BIR camp in Tobin where I equally went and there they told me they do not detain people at the camp… I went to the D.O’s office and the D.O told me he had no jurisdiction over the BIR that only the SDO could help. So I went to the SDO. The SDO took my complaint and my phone number and said he was going to investigate and call me. For 4 days I got no response and so I went there and he told me he will investigate if my husband had issues with the BIR and that if found guilty, he will be punished, but if not guilty then he will be released. Till date, I don’t know where my husband is” Safiatu bemoaned.

She expressed concerns as to the type of conditions her husband might be made to live in. she fears he might be undergoing torture in detention for a crime which is unknown as he has not been charged.

Mimi Mefo Info