The Zabarmari Massacre and the Politics of Reality Distortion

The government’s response to the Zabarmari Massacre shows that there is a deliberate attempt at reality distortion, with the government more concerned about saving face than bringing an end to insurgency.

Written by Theophilus Sokuma

Mar 24, 2021

On 9 November 2016, women and children collect water from a borehole in Mafa IDP Camp, Borno State, northeast Nigeria. Utenriksdepartementet UD

In October 2020, I was in my hometown of Shaffa in Borno State, North East Nigeria, with my father and brothers. It was the harvesting period and, every day, I, as well as my dad and brothers, would leave the house to our family farm to harvest what we had planted: rice, maize and groundnut. My father always left earlier, at dawn, while my brothers and I would still be asleep.

This happened in other homes, too—families waking before sunrise, heading out to their farms, their voices calling out to each other in greeting as they walked. My village, a sprawling field of rocky hills and mountains like many other villages across northern Nigeria, is a farming community with subsistence and small-scale commercial farmers.

On 28 November 2020 in Zabarmari, a village near the state capital of Maiduguri, a group of farmers left their home to go harvest their crops. The planting season had started around April, and for six months, these farmers worked laboriously to get a good harvest and ensure some income stability. But they never got the chance to harvest their crops, or even return home, as they were slaughtered by Boko Haram terrorists, their heads completely decapitated. 43 bodies were found, while the remaining 23 remain unidentified. Actual figures remain uncertain. I could not help but think that in an alternate reality, my father, my brothers and I could have met the same fate.

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About the Author

Theophilus Sokuma

is a writer currently based in Zamfara State.

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The Zabarmari Massacre and the Politics of Reality Distortion