YOLA, Nigeria — At least 9,500 people have returned to Nigeria since the Cameroonian government said last month it will expel unregistered Nigerian refugees as part of the fight against Boko Haram, a Nigerian official said.
Some of those who have returned claimed they were mistreated by the Cameroonian authorities, including being crammed in trucks leading to suffocation and alleged deaths.
The official coordinating Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency activities in Adamawa state, Saad Bello, said late Tuesday that 9,500 people have come through the Sahuda border post in the state and many of the returnees are from Borno state which has seen constant attacks by Boko Haram extremists.
Cameroon’s government has said suspected Boko Haram fighters disguised as refugees with explosives hidden in their luggage were arrested at a camp in northern Cameroon in early August.
The governor of the Far North Region of Cameroon, Midjiyawa Bakari, said that 5,000 Nigerians have been sent back to their country within the past two months.
He said those who had been expelled had refused to go to a refugee camp at Minawao and preferred to remain in towns and villages. “With the growing insecurity and after a series of suicide bombings in our country we took the decision to send them back.”
