Amirah Salihu, a Kwara nurse rescued after nearly six months in captivity, has revealed how she helped 10 pregnant women deliver their babies with her bare hands while being held by terrorists.
Salihu, who was abducted during the February 3 attack on Woro and Nuku communities in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State, said the captives endured severe hardship throughout their time in captivity.
The daughter of the Chief of Woro community, Umar Salihu, made the disclosure during an interview aired on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday.
She said the abducted women and children were poorly fed, exposed to rain and, at times, forced to sleep in open areas near a river.
“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 her, the captives were sometimes given kuka, but the abductors later stopped providing it.
“And they kept us inside river. 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 added.
Salihu said she became involved in assisting pregnant women who went into labour after the abductors asked whether there was a nurse among the captives.
“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.
She said the terrorists later discovered that she was a nurse and tried to persuade her to remain with them, but 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.
Speaking on the motive behind the attack, Salihu said the terrorists claimed they were acting according to their interpretation of religious teachings and rejected democracy and constitutional rule.
“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.
“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.
“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 opposed the terrorists’ attempts to enter Woro and had arranged for soldiers to protect the community, but the attackers struck after the soldiers left the area.
“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 the captives experienced rape or sexual assault during their time in captivity, Salihu said there was no such incident.
“No, no case of rape or sexual assault, no,” she said.
Salihu was among 176 women and children abducted during the February 3 attack on Woro and neighbouring Nuku communities.