Bama is a

Local Government Area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...

Borno State Borno State is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Yobe to the west, Gombe to the southwest, and Adamawa to the south while its eastern border forms part of the national border with Cameroon, its northern border ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. It has its headquarters in the town of Bama.

Landscape

It has an area of 4,997 km²

Population

a population of 269,986 at the 2006 census.

Postal Code

The

postal code A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, included in a postal a ...

of the area is 610.

History

It is located "about 60 kilometres (37 miles) from

Maiduguri Maiduguri is the capital and the largest city of Borno State Borno State is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Yobe to the west, Gombe to the southwest, and Adamawa to the south while its eastern border form ...

, the capital of Borno state". It is one of the sixteen LGAs that constitute the

Dikwa Emirate The Dikwa Emirate is one of the successor states to the old Bornu Empire, a traditional state within Borno State, Nigeria. It was established in 1901 at the start of the colonial period after the Bornu empire had been partitioned between the Briti ...

, a

traditional state Traditional authority is a form of leadership in which the authority of an organization or a regime is largely tied to tradition or custom. The main reason for the given state of affairs is that " things have always been that way".Reinhard Bendi ...

located in Borno State, Nigeria.

Insurgency Cases

The town was attacked by

Boko Haram Boko Haram, officially known as ''Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād'' ( ar, جماعة أهل السنة للدعوة والجهاد, lit=Group of the People of Sunnah for Dawah and Jihad), is an Islamic terrorist organization ...

in May 2013 and February 2014. ,

The two border towns of Bama and
Gwoza Gwoza is a local government area of Borno State, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Gwoza, a border town "about 135 kilometres South-East of Maiduguri." The postal code of the area is 610. The terrain is rocky and hilly. The Gwoza Hills ...
have been cut off since the declaration of a state of emergency with soldiers blocking the roads linking the town to the state capital,
Maiduguri Maiduguri is the capital and the largest city of Borno State Borno State is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Yobe to the west, Gombe to the southwest, and Adamawa to the south while its eastern border form ...
... Escapees from Bama were forced to take bush routes through
Dikwa Dikwa is a town located in Borno State, Nigeria. History of Dikwa Dikwa used to be part of the kingdom of Borno before being captured by Rabih in 1893. The latter had the place fortified and Dikwa became the capital of his kingdom from 1893 ...
, a town 60km away from Bama and 150km from Maiduguri to get to the state capital.

On September 2, 2014, Boko Haram seized control of Bama, according to the town's residents. In December 2014, it was reported that "people too elderly to flee Gwoza Local Government Area were being rounded up and taken to two schools where the militants opened fire on them." Over 50 elderly people were killed. A "gory video" was released of insurgents shooting over a hundred civilians in a school dormitory in the town of Bama. On 16 March 2015, the Nigerian army said that it had recaptured the city. On 22 June 2016, the NGO Medicins Sans Frontiers (MSF) reported a "catastrophic humanitarian emergency" in a camp for refugees fleeing

near the town of Bama. They stated that more than 1,200 people have died of starvation and illness at the camp. They also reported that between 23 May 2016 and 22 June 2016, at least 188 people have died at the camp (almost six per day), mainly from malnutrition and diarrhoea.

References

Local Government Areas in Borno State Populated places in Borno State {{BornoNG-geo-stub