I delivered 10 babies by hand for expectant mothers while being held captive — Freed Kwara nurse

Amirah Salihu, a rescued victim of the February 3 terrorist attack on Woro and Nuku communities in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State, has shared her harrowing experience of nearly six months in captivity, where she was forced to deliver babies with her bare hands.

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As a nurse and daughter of Umar Salihu, the chief of Woro community, Salihu revealed that she assisted 10 pregnant women in labour while in captivity, in an interview aired by Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday.

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The captives, according to Salihu, endured poor living conditions, with inadequate food and shelter, often sleeping in the open near a river despite heavy rainfall, and being fed corn with salt and Maggi, and sometimes kuka, a local food preparation.

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Salihu described the food provided by their captors as inadequate, saying "The kind of food that they were giving us was bad", and that there were days when they didn't even get Maggi, just salt, and that the abductors eventually stopped providing kuka.

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She also recounted how the captors would sometimes provide fruits, but not always, and that the captives had to sleep with their children in the harsh conditions, and that she had to deliver babies without gloves, using her hands.

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Salihu said the terrorists later discovered her nursing skills and wanted her to stay with them, but she refused, saying "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".

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According to Salihu, the terrorists attacked the community because they believed the residents were not following Allah's teachings, and that they wanted the community to work with the Quran instead of the constitution and democracy.

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She also shared the tragic loss of her two brothers, who were killed during the attack, saying "They even killed my brothers—my senior brother and my junior brother", and that the attackers targeted her family because her father had resisted their attempts to enter the community.

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Salihu's father, Umar Salihu, had brought soldiers to protect the village, but the attackers arrived when the soldiers were no longer there, and Salihu said she knew they were Boko Haram because of their dress.

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When asked about rape or sexual assault, Salihu said there were no such incidents, saying "No, no case of rape or sexual assault, no".

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The victims, including Salihu, were among the 176 women and children abducted during the February 3 attack on Woro and neighbouring Nuku communities, and they regained their freedom on Wednesday after nearly six months in captivity.

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According to the Kwara State Government, 13 children died in captivity, while 12 others remained behind, and the rescued victims were received by Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, in Ilorin on Friday.

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Governor AbdulRazaq commiserated with the families of those who died in captivity and thanked President Bola Tinubu and the military hierarchy for their roles in the rescue operation, and later visited a general hospital where 14 sick victims, including three women who gave birth in captivity, were receiving treatment.