The problems of the Mutai Hona family of Chibok Community of Borno State, North-East Nigeria, have become compounded following the death, through heart failure, of the family head. Mr. Hona, 56, whose two daughters were among the over 200 students of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, abducted by Boko Haram terrorists on April 14, died on Sunday, according to his brother, Mr. James Yama.

Mr. Yama, who spoke with newsmen yesterday in the Borno State capital, Maiduguri, said the father of eight children and two wives died as a result of the psychological trauma he went through when he realised that none of his two abducted daughters were in the video clip released by Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau. Yama said Hona was buried in Chibok on Monday, according to Christian rites.

He lamented that most of the parents in the community were no longer eating or sleeping because of the psychological trauma arising from the abduction saga.

“We are suffering in silence,” Yama said. “One of my brothers, Mr. Mutai Hona, whose two daughters were among those abducted died last Sunday as a result of heart attack. Since the incident, he has not been eating well before he developed high blood pressure.

“It will interest you to note that on Sunday this week, officials of the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, in charge of North-East Zone, were here in Chibok to distribute relief materials to the victims, but none of the parents collected even soap.

“They protested to NEMA officials that all what they wanted was for government to bring back their abducted daughters. In fact, most of those who benefitted from the relief materials were people whose daughters were not among the abducted.

“If we had seen the corpses of our girls, we would have forgotten about them. They have turned the whole episode into hide and seek game with the authorities not letting us know really what is happening, it is unfortunate.”

•Photo shows some of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls as shown in a Boko Haram video.

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