A displaced mother from Tambuwal Local Government Area of Sokoto State has recounted a harrowing experience of fleeing armed bandits, saying she was forced to give birth by the roadside after attackers invaded and destroyed her community.
The woman, who spoke in Hausa to Iconic FM, said bandits stormed her community, burnt homes, destroyed property and drove residents from their ancestral land. According to her, the attackers also stole bicycles and livestock and killed their chickens.
“When the farming season approached, they prevented us from going to our farms,” she said, explaining that the attacks had made normal life impossible.
Her most painful experience came while she was heavily pregnant and fleeing the violence.
“Even when I was going through the hardship I experienced, I gave birth on the road,” she recounted, adding that she did not even have enough clothing to carry her newborn.
Her story highlights the devastating impact of insecurity beyond deaths and kidnappings. For displaced women and children, violence has also meant the loss of access to healthcare, shelter, food and safe childbirth.
The displaced residents currently taking refuge in Jabo said the bandit attacks had brought farming, livestock rearing, fishing and other economic activities to a standstill. Many families have been forced to abandon their homes and depend on limited assistance from individuals.
One displaced resident, Magaji Abdullahi, said the crisis had persisted for years but had become particularly severe in 2026.
“There is no farming, no livestock rearing, no fishing and no normal livelihood activities,” he said, appealing to the government to restore security and provide food and other necessities.
Another displaced resident said his community had suffered repeated attacks, with residents scattered across different locations after fleeing for their lives.
The accounts from the displaced communities point to a crisis that has transformed everyday survival into a struggle. Families have lost homes, farms, livestock and sources of income, while children and pregnant women face additional risks in accessing essential services.
For the Sokoto mother who gave birth on the road, the tragedy is deeply personal: a moment that should have marked the arrival of new life instead became another chapter in a desperate flight from violence.
Her experience underscores the human cost of Nigeria’s prolonged insecurity — a cost measured not only in lives lost, but also in homes abandoned, livelihoods destroyed and mothers forced to give birth without the safety and dignity they deserve.
