Harrowing Conditions of Captivity Detailed by Rescued Kidnap Victims in Nigeria

Victims held for six months by jihadi kidnappers in Nigeria have revealed the difficult conditions they endured. Nigerian officials are calling the rescue operation the largest in the country’s history. In the past week, Nigerian forces freed at least 308 victims. Most were from two groups, including 163 people from the Woro community in Kwara State, kidnapped on February 3 during a raid in which their captors killed an additional 160 villagers.

The victims told the Associated Press they were taken for resisting the jihadis’ religious teachings. Hauwa Saliu, one of the rescued, recounted her captors’ frequent inquiries about whether the victims had embraced jihad. “We prayed to God to help us go back home, but it never really crossed our minds that we were going to go back home,” she told the outlet.

Amira Saliu shared details of their captivity, describing how they were held in a forest near a river. The captives hid when they heard helicopters and were forced to put out fires. Saliu, a nurse, helped ten women give birth without medical equipment or sanitary gloves. “I had no choice but to use my bare hands,” she explained to the outlet.

Mary Ishaya, another victim, explained that captives often went days without food and had to bury those who died. “I still cannot find the right words to describe what has happened to us. We saw death and suffering,” she said.

The governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq, addressed the media, revealing that 46 victims received treatment at a hospital. “This is indeed, indeed a very sad situation…we’re still assessing the situation…it’s just kids…children and women,” he said.

This incident underscores the ongoing conflict between Nigeria’s Islamic militants in the north and the country’s significant Christian population, comprising around 45% of Nigerians.

On Christmas Day, former President Donald Trump, in cooperation with Nigeria’s government, approved missile strikes on Islamic State-affiliated groups in northern Nigeria to protect the country’s Christians. The U.S. continued its efforts in May, conducting joint military actions which reportedly resulted in the demise of a senior Islamic State leader, Abu Bakr al-Mainuk.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.