Rescued Kwara nurse helped 10 pregnant women deliver babies in captivity

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 nearly six months in captivity.

Salihu, a nurse and daughter of the chief of Woro community, Umar Salihu, said she helped 10 pregnant women deliver their babies with her bare hands while in captivity.

She disclosed this in an interview aired on 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 the abductors later stopped providing it.

She added that they were forced to sleep near a river and were sometimes ordered to put out fires whenever they tried to keep warm.

Salihu said she assisted pregnant women who went into labour after the abductors asked if there was a nurse among the captives.

She said she initially denied being a nurse but later helped about 10 women deliver their babies without gloves or other medical equipment.

“I have seen people over there, pregnant women, that they deliver. They asked for a 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 her nursing skills and wanted her to remain with them, but she refused.

“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 terrorists attacked the community, Salihu said they claimed to be acting in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic teachings.

“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 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, the attackers struck after the soldiers had left.

Salihu said she immediately recognised the attackers as Boko Haram members based on their appearance and manner of dressing.

Asked whether the captives were subjected to rape or sexual assault, she said there was no such incident.

The victims were among 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.

The Kwara State Government said 13 children died in captivity, while 12 others remained behind.

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.