The smile on Saminu Wakili’s face does not tell his real story. His sparkling white shirt, white band, black suit, black robe, and wig depict a young lawyer who had a smooth sail as an undergraduate and is living life on a silver platter. But that is not the case.

While living life as a child with his parents in his rural community in Gwoza, Borno State, violent attacks by the Boko Haram insurgency in the state swept through his hometown, leaving behind sorrow, tears and blood.

Like hundreds of residents, Wakili and his parents were displaced, their home and property destroyed, leaving them with no other means of survival than to flee to neighbouring Cameroon.

The Insurgency — which began as a violent opposition to westernisation in 2009 — affected over 10 million people, led to an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 deaths, and displaced over two million people in the North-East region, particularly Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states as of 2021, according to the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA).

In 2014, Nigeria’s former President, Goodluck Jonathan, called on world leaders to assist Nigeria identify sponsors of the Boko Haram terrorists organisation, emphasising that the world had the responsibility of holding the sponsors of the deadly sect responsible and accountable for their atrocities.

At the European Union-African Union Summit on Peace and Security in Brussels, Belgium on, Jonathan reiterated that there could be no development in Africa if the issue of insecurity was not holistically tackled, stressing that “peace and development are two sides of the same coin”.

Quest for Survival

Now a young lawyer who was recently called to the Nigerian Bar, the Borno indigene said that he never thought about getting a good education or becoming a graduate when he fled Borno during the height of the killings by Boko Haram insurgents.

Speaking when he appeared as a guest on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Friday, he said the only thought on his mind when he and other victims of the attacks fled Gwoza, their hometown, in 2013 was not to die.

Wakili was among the five internally displaced persons from Borno State who were inducted into the legal profession as solicitors of the Supreme Court of the Federal Republic of Nigeria at a call-to-bar ceremony in Abuja on Wednesday.

“We were displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency, which started in 2009 but got to our region in 2013, 2014, and since we were displaced from there, my family and I ran to Cameroon. And throughout that season, I was a school dropout.

“What happened back home was such that they burnt our houses, burnt our belongings, and everything, and we lost everything, and there was no hope. So all this while I was a school dropout, trying to survive, and we had nothing, trying to seek refuge from one place to another in Cameroon.

“So, during that period, somebody helped me to get out of Cameroon, and I left my parents there on January 2, 2015. And this person brought me, and then from Abuja, I was taken to the IDP camp in Benin City. He (Folorunsho) actually helped me out.

“And then when I got to the IDP camp Benin City in January 2015, I started attending secondary, and God helping me, I was able to cope through the encouragement of our daddy. In those days, our hope was for us to be somewhere where we would find peace, and would not hear the gunshots that we ran away from every day.

Wakili disclosed that his parents initially rejected the idea of his returning to Nigeria from Cameroon, thinking that he would be killed, but he had to convince them.

“In fact, my parents didn’t want me to come out and leave them because they felt like if it is going to be death, let’s all die together because if I go to Nigeria, they felt like every part of Nigeria will be in the hands of these people (insurgents), so I shouldn’t leave them.

The Borno Indigene said he attended the Edo State University, Iyamho, in the Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo State, where he studied Law and emerged as the best graduating student with a cumulative grade point of 4.43.

The lawyer, who said he had not seen his parents since he left Cameroon over a decade ago, said, “It was not all easy, but through the help of God, through the tireless effort of the coordinator, daddy, and pastor, Solomon Folorunsho, I was able to go through the university and finish my LLB degree.

“From there, I proceeded to the Nigerian Law School in 2024, and I finished at the Enugu campus of the Nigerian Law School in November. And I’m so excited, having not even met with my parents, whom I left for more than 10 years now, I’m now a lawyer.

“I’ve been called to the Nigerian bar — confirmed. I’m a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, and I’m not the only one; we are five in number who have been called so far. This is what men can do; this is what the IDP camp has done for us,” he added.

Wakili and four other IDPs — David Ayuba, Nathan Ibrahim, Rifkatu Ali, and Peter Mazhekwatte Isaac — were sheltered at the Home for the Needy operated by the International Christian Centre for Mission.

‘Their Smiles, Determination Kept Us Going’

Its coordinator, Pastor Solomon Folorunsho, said the IDPs were encouraged to demonstrate determination in spite of individual challenges and backgrounds.

“It was so difficult for them because at their young age, they never had a good education; even communicating in English was tough for them. We taught them what is called determination, and they picked it up.

“I was amazed at how brilliant they were and discovered that if you give the same opportunity to everybody everywhere, you will get the same result,” he explained.

Pushback

Folorunsho also said the centre faced criticisms and false narratives about its activities, but chose to respond with its impact on the children.

Five of the IDPs graduated as medical doctors a few months ago, while at least 400 are currently studying at different universities.

“It was difficult to feed them, clothe them, and provide food and educational materials. And as time went on, we started getting threats from many sources, false publications, and people saying all manner of things,” he said.

“So, we said our response would be that when the children are successful, when they become doctors and lawyers, the world will know that we have done the right thing. Today, we have over 400 university undergraduates studying professional courses,” he added.

Speaking further, Folorunsho said, “A few months ago, five graduated as medical doctors, and now we have five who have become lawyers. In the next few months, we are going to have graduates in different fields.

“It got to a point that we wondered whether we were doing the right thing and whether we should give it up. But when you see the smiles on the children’s faces and the grades they get from their schools, you can’t stop.” (Channels TV)