Health
I helped 10 pregnant women deliver babies bare-handed in captivity — Rescued Kwara nurse
By Saheed Oyelakin
A rescued victim of the February 3 terrorist attack on Woro and Nuku communities in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State, Amirah Salihu, has recounted the harsh conditions she and other captives endured during their nearly six months in captivity.
Salihu, who is a nurse and the daughter of Umar Salihu, the chief of Woro community, said she took delivery of 10 pregnant women with her bare hands while in captivity.
She disclosed this in an interview aired by Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday.
According to her, the captives were poorly fed and often slept in the open, including near a river, despite heavy rainfall.
“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.
Salihu said the captives were sometimes given kuka, a local food preparation, but that the abductors eventually 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.
She said she assisted pregnant women who went into labour during the period, after the abductors asked whether there was a nurse among the captives.
“Sometimes they give us fruits, sometimes they don’t give us. That’s how we used to sleep with our children. And I have seen people over there, pregnant woman, that they deliver.
“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.
Salihu said the terrorists later came to know of her nursing skills and wanted her to remain with them, but she declined.
“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.
On why the terrorist attacked the community, she said, “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 also recounted how her two brothers were killed during the attack.
“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.
According to her, her father had resisted the terrorists’ attempt to enter the community and had brought soldiers to protect the village.
However, she said the attackers arrived when the soldiers were no longer there.
“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.
When asked whether the captives were subjected to rape or sexual assault, Salihu said there was no such incident.
“No, no case of rape or sexual assault, no,” she said.
The victims were among the 176 women and children abducted during the February 3 attack on Woro and neighbouring Nuku communities.
The abductees regained their freedom on Wednesday after nearly six months in captivity.
According to the Kwara State Government, 13 children died in captivity, while 12 others remained behind.
Saturday PUNCH had reported that other victims recounted severe hunger and deprivation, saying they often ate only once a day and slept in the forest.
Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, received the rescued victims in Ilorin on Friday and commiserated with the families of those who died in captivity.
He thanked President Bola Tinubu and the military hierarchy for their roles in the rescue operation.
The governor later visited a general hospital where 14 sick victims, including three women who gave birth in captivity, were receiving treatment.
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