How Nigerian soldiers fathered ‘ECOMOG Kids’

Jummai Gambo and her daughter

Children born by Liberian women to Nigerian ECOMOG peacekeepers, who served in that country, are slowly coming of age and may soon start to ask questions about their identities and future. Now, their mothers, as well as former ECOMOG soldiers in both Liberia and Nigeria, told Weekly Trust a number of moving stories. In the year 2000 Cornelius Davis left Liberia and travelled to Nigeria with the intention of abducting a child. His sister Lydia Glabor had earlier given birth to a son for a Nigerian soldier who had been in Liberia as part of the ECOMOG contingent. The soldier never told her that he had a wife in Nigeria. When Lydia arrived his house sometime in 1991, he told his wife that Lydia is a poor orphan he met on the streets of Liberia. Now, he wanted to help her, or so it seemed, and sought the cooperation of his wife. He then told Lydia that the lady in his house is his sister. The young girl became pregnant and this fact could not be hidden. Drama soon ensued: Lydia now found out that the lady in the house is the soldier’s wife. While the soldier’s wife learnt in a shocking fashion, that Lydia was really her soldier husband’s young lover. Born in 1974, she was ‘a virgin, who was completely blind,’ says her brother whom this reporter met in Liberia during a recent visit.

Very soon Lydia fled to Ghana in great fear because the first wife suddenly began to fume and to rage. Assisted by other Liberians in the barracks, Lydia fled in the dead of night leaving her son behind. Cornelius then travelled down to Nigeria to abduct the child and reunite mother and child. When he got to the barracks he discovered that the soldier had been posted up north. His hope of reuniting mother and child failed and he returned to Liberia. Cornelius says ‘my sister has not seen the child since she fled to Ghana in 1996’.

ECOMOG Baby Boom

Lydia Glabor’s son is just one of the many children born to Nigerian ECOMOG troops who served in Liberia between 1990 and 1996.They have been variously called’ECOMOG Babies’ or’ ECOMOG Kids’. This phase in Liberia’s social history has been referred to as the ‘ECOMOG Baby Boom’. It was a moment when the population began to expand. When some in Liberia were not sure who their fathers were, the children were then named ‘ECOMOG Bastards’. Little knowledge of the father can be a big social problem in Africa. The number of births by Liberian women have been put at 250,000.The news broke recently when a senior government official stressed this figure before the House of Representatives Diaspora Committee, and said ‘many of the kids have undergone registration and naturalization as Liberians, having waited for years without seeing their fathers.’

In Liberia many persons interviewed by this reporter, including a journalist who was in the thick of the Liberian war, stressed that the figure is correct,and that its likely to be higher than the 250,000.This reporter also found out that the Department of Social Welfare in Monrovia has recently commenced the registration of all births in Liberia. No proper records of births are in existence right now. This was occasioned by the war in that country.

Abubakar Umar Kari of the Department of Sociology, University of Abuja says “we thought ECOMOG had gone to keep the peace in a war-torn country. We never knew they had gone to serve as agents of population explosion”. A former ECOMOG soldier in Nigeria (name withheld) told Weekly Trust that the figure must be correct. Citing himself as an example, he said he had 58 girlfriends in the three-year period he spent in Liberia as part of the ECOMOG contingent. But he adds that he used condom, and that his colleagues had a greater number of girlfriends than he had at the time in question. In addition he says that he is HIV negative.

Abdulkazim Akanmu, who served with ECOMOG in Liberia, whom this reporter met at the Ijebu-Oru Refugee Camp in Ogun State, adds that the population of children born by Liberian women to Nigerian soldiers must be higher than 250,000. He says “it’s more than that. It must be double the number given,” laughing. He has five children by a Liberian wife and he calls them out, introducing the group as his ‘battalion’. Three of these children were born in Liberia during the period of the ECOMOG intervention.

Harrison Aniukwu, Chairman, Nigeria Citizens Union, Red Light Monrovia comments on the population of babies born to Nigerian soldiers by Liberian women. “In the 1990s countless women came forward to say that they had children for Nigerian ECOMOG soldiers. So Ambassador Ogbonnaya Nduaka tried to get them registered at the Nigerian Embassy. Then the 2003 war broke out. We helped those who knew the addresses and names of the fathers of their children. But the population of births for our Nigerian soldiers is certainly higher than 250,000, given the numbers of those I saw who came forward to be evacuated”. He also explained why relationships blossomed between ECOMOG troops and the local women. His words: “ECOMOG was providing food supplies to the people here during the war and so relationships blossomed because ECOMOG provided security as well.” According to him, most of the women who came forward could even speak a smattering of Nigerian-type Pidgin English and the children had obviously Nigerian names. A former ECOMOG soldier tells this reporter: “We all had girlfriends and I am not left out. During the crisis our soldiers befriended their girls, and the girls became pregnant.”

General Dogonyaro speaks

Major General Joshua Dogonyaro (RTD), who once served as Force Commander ECOMOG, in reacting to the figure of 250,000 births said ‘It’s not true. That did not happen, at least during my time it did not happen. It was a purely military mission, and there were no relationships between the troops and local Liberian women’. Weekly Trust also contacted General Victor Malu, a former Force Commander ECOMOG, who is ill at present and thus could not be interviewed.

Colonel Yerima too

Colonel M.M Yerima, Director, Defence Information, Defence Headquarters Abuja, says of the figures: “we don’t believe the figures. They are not true. The figures were grossly exaggerated, but we agree that there were a number of births in Liberia for Nigerian ECOMOG troops. Anywhere soldiers are deployed, you will have births. In fact, there is no mission in the world where soldiers would not have children.”

He said a relationship with local women is quite normal during war time, and states that the army frowns upon marriage by a soldier to a foreign lady. His words: “the Armed Forces will not say do not befriend a woman. All I know is a soldier can’t marry a foreigner. Having a relationship is a soldier’s personal life, and he should not do anything that will bring disgrace to the Armed Forces.”

He tells Weekly Trust that the origin of the 250,000 figure for Nigerian births in Liberia can be traced to “a joke cracked by the Liberian Minister of Defence when he visited the country not too long ago. It was a joke cracked by their Minister of Defence who said that Nigerian troops had left 250,0000 babies in Liberia by the time ECOMOG ended. I was present at the event which held at the Shehu Yar’adua Center. It was simply a joke.”

He left 13 years ago

Esther Teha, 32, has children for an ECOMOG soldier who hails from Nigeria. They met at Kakata outside Monrovia when she was just 18 years old, a community with a very high population of children of Nigerian extraction. But he left for Nigeria all of a sudden in 1997 and she has not heard from him since then. Her first child was born in 1996, and the next came the following year. Esther says they were not married, and were simply in love with each other. Then the children came. Her words: “we were just lovers, and I have not heard from him since then. My children are going to school, and I don’t even have enough money to feed them. Their father who is in Nigeria comes from Delta State”. She doesn’t have money and the future looks bleak for both her and the children.

Grace Koduo, 30, has a son for another Nigerian ECOMOG soldier. She complains that the father who hails from Benue State, and is in Nigeria, does not send money for the upkeep of the boy. She says she calls him from time to time. When Weekly Trust phoned the father upon returning to Nigeria, he accepted that he knows Grace, and that the child is his. He said he is trying to arrange for her to open an account with ECOBANK, to facilitate the easy transfer of money to mother and son.

‘Children of dual parentage’

Abubakar Umar Kari comments on the significance of these births to Nigeria and Liberia. His words: “any society with such an increase in population is experiencing a significant population increase, and a number of issues will automatically arise. Are these children Liberians or Nigerians, and can Liberia easily absorb them? Then there is the issue of a social distance which has been created, with the mothers located in Liberia, and the fathers in Nigeria. This will impact negatively on family cohesion.”

He also explained that there are larger questions of whether these are legitimate or illegitimate children, which has implications for their acceptance by the larger society. This is because some society’s frown upon children born out of wedlock, and such children may not enjoy privileges accorded the so-called normal children. He also speaks on diplomatic issues which the matter immediately generates. His words: “this great number of children of dual parentage is a big diplomatic challenge to both countries. The question is whether the children will enjoy dual citizenship, and if they will qualify as Nigerian citizens, if and when they so desire. Will Liberia accept them as citizens? All these issues need to be thrashed out.” He asks what happens if the children are repatriated to Nigeria. Will they be treated as refugees, and will their fathers and co-wives accept them? He adds poignantly: “in many cases it was just a case of adventurous romance. It is not that the fathers actually planned to have a family. They might not even be aware that they sired children during their sojourn in Liberia.”

‘I got married when I was small’

Jeneba Fofana, 30, is another Liberian lady who has a child for a Nigerian ECOMOG soldier. According to her: “I got married when I was small.” After the war, she left for Nigeria with her husband, and stayed in a barracks where she was popularly known as Fatu. She says that she could not cope with the polygamous home her husband had taken her into. “My husband has another wife and so there was a big clash when I arrived at his house. He told me before we married that he has another wife. But there were constant clashes between us for seven years. So I had to leave.”

Then her brother passed on in Liberia. She took advantage of that event and returned to Liberia with her son.This was four years ago. “From that time till today, my son’s father has not sent any money to us. He is a soldier in Katsina. I have been calling him, begging for money, but he does not tell me anything good”. She ends on a sober note: “My main appeal is that money should be provided by the father for the upkeep of the boy”. When Weekly Trust contacted Jeneba’s husband, a serving soldier in the Nigerian Army, he agreed that he is her husband, and that they have a child, but stressed that since she has stayed away for four years, the marriage is as good as over.

Professor Ayo Dunmoye of the Department of Political Science, Ahmadu Bello University, says of the numerous births in Liberia: “this is worrisome to the Defence Headquarters, and it is not something we are proud of. We went to keep the peace, but began doing other things, and our soldiers came back dying from HIV and not from active fighting.” He draws attention to the children left behind by American troops after the Vietnam War. His words: “historically, America had illicit relationships with women in Vietnam. Later these Americo-Vietnamese were repatriated to America. The Nigerian government can repatriate the children if they can locate their fathers. This situation can create social problems for Liberia, as the children can easily become social misfits if they cannot trace their fathers.’

‘I need a partner’

Lovety Sao is mother of Zainabou. Zainabou’s father was an ECOMOG soldier in Monrovia. She has not heard from Zainabu’s father since he went back to Nigeria, and adds that she has never been to Nigeria. She says: “when I call him, he rejects my call. Instead he speaks with my younger sister, and ignores me.” This reporter contacted her husband who said he has asked her to open an account with one of the banks in Monrovia, which he could use to assist her and Zainabou. But Lovety has not done this, he insists. Lovety says she is not interested in the marriage again. “I am not interested in the marriage again and I am looking for another person to marry.”

Polygamy is a big problem

Mohammed Sackor, 42, is the Chairman, Liberian Refugee Welfare Council, at the Ijebu-Oru Refugee Camp, Ogun State. Commenting on the number of children born to Nigerian ECOMOG troops by Liberian women, he says “it is evident that Nigerian soldiers fathered so many children by our Liberian sisters. There are so many women here with their children. They had earlier been expelled from various barracks in the country, and they came here. We had more than 200 of such women here. Some have been repatriated to Liberia. I won’t dispute the fact that Nigerian soldiers had countless children in Liberia, because I have been in leadership here for the past six to seven years and I have seen a lot. When the men married women in Liberia, they never told them that they had wives in Nigeria. Upon getting here, these young ladies found they were in polygamous homes. Many of them could not cope with this situation and left.”

My sister fled

Agatha Davis, who resides in the Ijebu-Oru Refugee Camp, tells the story of Elizabeth, her sister, who had a relationship with a Nigerian ECOMOG soldier. This began in 1996, and by 1998 she travelled with him to Nigeria. She had two children for the soldier. These are a boy and a girl, who both bear Hausa names, Agatha says. But her sister never knew he had a second wife, and so very soon problems set in.

Elizabeth made two attempts to escape from the house. During the first attempt, she was discovered and beaten by her lover. The second attempt was successful. She fled Nigeria, leaving her children behind. She has not heard from her husband or the children since she left the country.

‘He beat me silly’

Maria Flomo has two children for another Nigerian ECOMOG soldier.They are boys, aged 17 and 18. The father hails from Adamawa State. Life with her lover was tough, she tells Weekly Trust. “I am tired of my marriage, because he is not looking after me well. When I was with him, he used to beat me all the time, and he was always drinking. He beat me silly from May 18, 1991 when I arrived Nigeria, till I left him in 1998.” She says they were just lovers in Liberia, and that it was not a marriage. Today, she plaits hair for students of the nearby Olabisi Onabanjo University. But the university is closed, so her source of money has dried up. She says “I want to do business, but I don’t have the capital to do this. It’s not easy being a single mother in the camp”. She says she needs school fees for her sons, which comes to 15,000 naira a term.

Refugee in own country

Abdulkazim Akanmu came across his wife in New Kru Town, Monrovia, in 1997. At first he was a soldier with ECOMOG. Then he hid away during the battle and it was assumed that he had died in action. His words: “when they do not see you, they believe you died.”

Then he resurrected as a Liberian citizen complete with a Liberian passport. “I hid for some time then took Liberian citizenship.” Later, another war broke out in Liberia and he fled to Nigeria with his family. Today, he is one of the Liberian refugees at the Ijebu-Oru Refugee Camp. His words: “I came straight to this camp. I am a refugee surviving by the grace of the Almighty. Here one has to struggle to survive. Many of us go to the nearby saw mills to find work.”

He hails from Ibadan in Oyo State and wishes to introduce his young children to Islam. But he is tired of Nigeria. He says: “I am tired of Nigeria. I love Nigeria because they have helped us a lot. But we are being treated as if we are strangers, as if we are slaves. I have a greater attachment to Liberia. Liberia is the best place to live. It’s a place where you can get peace and money.”

‘He brought another wife’

Cecilia George met her boyfriend in Liberia in 1996. She travelled to Egbe in Kogi State, the community her lover comes from, with her two children in 1999. Then his sister started maltreating her, she says. Then all of a sudden her lover returned home with ‘an Igbo wife’. To cut a long story short, she had to leave his house in Egbe, and relocated to the camp. On contact with her husband, she says: “I have had no contact with him since 1999. I do everything for myself and the children. I don’t know where my husband is, whether in Egbe or elsewhere.”

She says that Liberian women have fled to the camp from barracks across Nigeria over the years. Her words: “women are fleeing from barracks all over Nigeria to come here. This is because they are being maltreated. Liberian girls don’t like mates or co-wives and so they leave the barracks in great numbers.

A soldier looks back

A former ECOMOG soldier (name withheld) shed light on the nature of relationships at the time the ECOMOG contingent were in Liberia. First, he said, a very beautiful girl will usually be the girlfriend of a soldier. His words: “if you go to the market and see a very beautiful girl, she may be a soldier’s girlfriend. The girls are happy with the relationship because it is commonly believed that a Nigerian ECOMOG soldier could take care of the women. The local people, it seems, could not take care of the women. So the ECOMOG boys were natural victors in the situation.”

He added that, surprisingly, a man could allow ECOMOG soldiers to have a relationship with his wife, if this would bring food to the family table. He comments: “If you see a well-dressed woman with plaited hair, she is likely to be a girlfriend of an ECOMOG soldier. An ECOMOG soldier could rent a house for a woman at $150 a month.”

He says that people in Liberia naturally drew closer to Nigerian members of the ECOMOG contingent, stressing that “Nigerians were the more sociable segment of the ECOMOG troops. Some of the popular haunts of Nigerian soldiers included Classic Touch, Las Vegas, Sailor’s Inn and Black Sugar, all lying opposite the Freeport of Liberia.” He says: “after fighting you can take a Town Pass, and get to the town to relax, or you sneak out”. He adds that some soldiers who had no girlfriends were only able to discipline themselves just for a while. His words: “some disciplined themselves just for a while, but after a while they will succumb. Girls usually brought their fellow girls for the single soldiers.”

He also said that when a battalion is returning to Nigeria, or its country of origin, then it was normal for a soldier to hand over his girlfriend to a fresh soldier reporting for duty. He salutes Liberian women, where he states: “Liberian women risk their lives in many ways. They used to get shot or get caught in an ambush.

The story operates in reverse and this is captured in the account rendered by Jummai Charity Gambo. She met her Liberian husband in Kano. They recently returned to Liberia, where her husband suddenly went missing. Now she is alone and has three children to look after. She sold her handset recently as well as some clothes to feed her children. She wishes to return to Nigeria before Christmas where she can settle down and pick up the pieces of her life again.