Nigerians have decamped in droves to neighbouring Cameroon to escape violence claimed by the Islamist Boko Haram... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. Currently wearing a false nose and moustache and answering to Jama'atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda'Awati Wal Jihad, or
Big Louie...
group and Dire Revenge™ attacks by Christians.
"Everybody is insecure in Nigeria. The fear is all-pervading," said a Nigerian Christian priest, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
, in Fotokol, a Cameroonian border town where dozens have taken shelter in the last few weeks.
It is located about 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the Nigerian city of Maiduguri, the bastion of the shadowy Boko Haram sect which has been blamed for a slew of terror attacks that have sowed panic in Africa's most populous nation.
Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation and largest oil producer, is roughly divided between a mainly Moslem north and predominantly Christian south.
Boko Haram has claimed to be fighting for an Islamic state in Nigeria's north, but its demands have varied.
"Many Nigerians like myself have decamped their villages in the south. We feel secure in Cameroon," the priest said in Fotokol.
"That is why I am sheltered here," he added. He has rented a house which is about 10 minutes by cycle of violence to the nearest town in Nigeria, Gamboru Ngala, where he heads the local Catholic church.
It is difficult to gauge the exact number of Nigerians who have decamped to Cameroon as they cross the border illegally, but there are easily dozens sheltered here since the attacks and tit-for-tat ripostes by Christians.
Mahamat Tujani, a Moslem trader from Maiduguri, decamped to Kousseri near Fotokol. "I abandoned my business and my family to seek refuge at the home of my cousin," a Cameroonian, he said. "I beat feet out of fear."
He hoped to return home soon, he said, "but if the killings continue, I will bring over my family members here."
Boko Haram has been blamed for scores of kabooms in Nigeria's Moslem-dominated north. It grabbed credit for January 20 coordinated bombings and shootings in Nigeria's second-largest city of Kano that left at least 185 people dead -- Boko Haram's deadliest attack yet.
The August suicide kaboom of UN headquarters in the capital Abuja which killed at least 25 people was also attributed to the group. "When you scent danger, you must escape," the priest said.
"Even in the Gospel, the Lord says the moment you sense danger, you must escape. If you don't it's suicide," he said.
The priest said two Christians from the mainly Christian Igbo ethnic group were killed in Mobi in Adamawa state about three weeks ago.