A woman simply identified as Zainab was delivered of a baby boy in the open in Mangu town of Plateau State as killings and destruction of properties continued unabated late into the night of Tuesday and yesterday.
Zainab, who was heavily pregnant when the killings started, narrated how she was frightened by the deafening sounds of guns and the sight of people being killed, only to suddenly feel a sharp pain in her lower abdomen.
The 25-year-old mother of two said out of shock, her baby slipped out of her while she was standing in the open, oblivious of what to do.
“When I noticed that the baby was coming out, I knelt immediately to ensure the baby was safely delivered.
“There was no medical assistance, sterilized equipment, or conducive atmosphere. It was a neighbour who stopped to assist me as everyone else fled,” she said.
According to her, “There was no hospital nearby. Even right now, we couldn’t take the baby to hospital due to the curfew and my stomach has been hurting badly.
“Right now (Wednesday afternoon) there are gunshots everywhere and as for the baby, we haven’t even bathed him since we can’t even get hot water. I also haven’t taken hot water myself,”
“As for my other children, I don’t know where they are; I don’t even know where my husband is,” she added. Shafa’atu, the only neighbour who stood back to help deliver Zainab’s baby also shared her version of the story.
“It was in the process of running with the five orphans in my care that I saw her on the streets in a bad situation and everyone was running away. So, I decided to go and help her. I still don’t know the whereabouts of my husband and one of the orphans in my care,” she said.
Leaders of Christian and Islamic religious groups are accusing the military and a vigilante group called Operation Rainbow of taking sides in the conflict.
