A nurse rescued after spending nearly six months in captivity has recounted the difficult conditions she and other victims endured following the February 3 attack on Woro and Nuku communities in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State.
Amirah Salihu, daughter of the Woro community chief, Umar Salihu, said she was forced to assist pregnant women who went into labour while the captives were being held by the terrorists.
Speaking during an interview monitored by Zoyols News on Friday, Salihu said she helped deliver 10 babies with her bare hands because there were no medical supplies or gloves available.
She said the captors eventually discovered that she was a trained nurse and tried to persuade her to remain with them, but she refused, insisting that she wanted to return home.
“They asked if there was a nurse among us. I did not say anything at first because I was also a nurse, but I started helping the pregnant women when they went into labour,” she said.
“I helped about 10 women deliver their babies without gloves. I used my hands because there was nothing else available.”
Salihu said the ordeal was made worse by severe hunger and poor living conditions. According to her, the captives were given little food, sometimes consisting only of guinea corn, salt and seasoning.
“The food they gave us was bad. When we first arrived, they gave us guinea corn with salt and seasoning. Later, they would give us one bag of corn without oil or pepper. There were even days when they stopped giving us seasoning and gave us only salt,” she recalled.
She said the captives sometimes received fruits or a local preparation known as kuka, but such provisions were not regular.
The conditions under which they slept were equally harsh. Salihu said the captives were sometimes kept in an area close to a river and were exposed to heavy rainfall.
She added that they were not always allowed to keep fires burning, even when the weather was cold or wet.
Despite the hardship, Salihu said she continued to care for the children and pregnant women around her as much as she could.
She also gave an account of the attack that led to their abduction, saying the terrorists had repeatedly claimed that they were acting in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic teachings.
According to her, the attackers rejected the democratic system and said they wanted people to live according to the Quran.
Salihu said her father had previously resisted attempts by the terrorists to enter the community and had brought soldiers into the area for protection.
However, she said the attackers struck when the soldiers were no longer present.
“They suddenly came to our house that day. When I saw the way they were dressed, I knew they were Boko Haram,” she said.
She revealed that two of her brothers were killed during the attack.
“My senior brother and my junior brother were killed. They said it was because of my father, because he had refused to allow them into our village,” she said.
Despite the prolonged captivity, Salihu said none of the women in the group was subjected to rape or sexual assault.
The nurse was among 176 women and children abducted during the attack on Woro and neighbouring Nuku communities. The victims were released on Wednesday after spending almost six months in captivity.
The Kwara State Government said 13 children died while in captivity, while 12 other victims were still being held behind.
Following their release, Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq received the rescued victims in Ilorin and expressed sympathy to families who lost loved ones during the ordeal.
The governor also acknowledged the roles played by President Bola Tinubu and the military in securing the release of the victims.
AbdulRazaq later visited a general hospital where 14 rescued victims were receiving treatment. Among them were three women who had given birth while in captivity.
