A nurse rescued after nearly six months in captivity has recounted the harsh conditions she and other victims endured following the 3 February terrorist attack on Woro and Nuku communities in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State.
Amirah Salihu, the daughter of Woro community chief Umar Salihu, said she assisted 10 pregnant women to give birth while in captivity, using her bare hands because she had no medical equipment or protective gloves.
Salihu disclosed this during an interview aired on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday.
She said the captives were subjected to severe hunger and deprivation, with their meals often consisting of guinea corn, salt and seasoning.
‘The kind of food that they were giving us was bad. The day that we got there, they just dropped guinea corn for us with salt and Maggi. Every day after, they gave us one bag of corn without oil, pepper, nothing. There was a day that they didn’t even give us Maggi again, just salt,’ she said.
According to Salihu, the captives sometimes received kuka, a local food preparation, and occasional fruit, but supplies were inconsistent.
She also described their sleeping conditions as extremely difficult, saying the captives were forced to sleep in an area close to or inside a river, often during heavy rainfall.
‘The place that we sleep is inside river. And rain always used to fall, sometimes. If we set fire, they asked us to put off the fire,’ she said.
Salihu said the abductors later asked whether there was a nurse among the captives when some of the pregnant women went into labour.
She said she initially concealed her profession but eventually helped deliver several babies.
‘They asked of nurse, “Is there any nurse with us?” I said no, because I was… I am also a nurse. I just used to help pregnant women do delivery. I helped like 10 women for the delivery, without gloves. I used my hands to help them,’ she said.
The attackers later discovered her nursing background and, according to Salihu, attempted to persuade her to remain with them.
She said she refused because she wanted to return home.
‘But at last, when they got to know, they wanted to keep me, that I should stay with them, but I said no. I want to come back,’ she said.
Salihu also recounted the circumstances surrounding the attack, saying the terrorists claimed they were fighting for what they believed to be Allah’s cause.
She said the attackers opposed Nigeria’s constitutional democracy and wanted communities to follow Islamic law.
‘They always say that they are working for Allah’s work. That they want us to work with what Allah said. That all what we are doing, we are doing constitution, democracy — that it is not good. That they want us to work with Quran. That’s the reason why they entered our village, killed everybody,’ she said.
She said two of her brothers, one older and one younger, were killed during the attack.
According to her, the attackers blamed their deaths on her father, who had previously resisted attempts by the terrorists to enter the community.
‘They even killed my brothers — my senior brother and my junior brother. And those… they said it’s because of my dad, because my dad did not allow them to come to our village,’ she said.
Salihu said her father had sought the assistance of soldiers to protect the community, but the attackers struck after the troops had left.
She recalled seeing the attackers arrive suddenly at her family home and said she recognised them from their appearance.
‘They just came to our house that day, suddenly, and people came to our house. The way I saw them, I knew that yes, they are Boko Haram, because the way they dressed, I knew that they are Boko Haram,’ she said.
Asked whether she or other captives had been subjected to rape or sexual assault, Salihu said there had been no such incident.
‘No, no case of rape or sexual assault, no,’ she said.
Salihu was among 176 women and children abducted during the 3 February attack on Woro and neighbouring Nuku communities.
The victims were released on Wednesday after spending nearly six months in captivity.
The Kwara State Government said 13 children died while in captivity, while 12 other victims remained with their abductors.
Other survivors previously told Saturday PUNCH of severe hunger and deprivation during their captivity, saying they sometimes ate only once a day and slept in the forest.
Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq received the rescued victims in Ilorin on Friday and expressed sympathy to the families of those who died.
He thanked President Bola Tinubu and the military leadership for their roles in securing the victims’ release.
The governor also visited a general hospital where 14 victims were receiving medical treatment, including three women who gave birth while in captivity.
