Two
women abducted by Boko Haram insurgents in
the North-East have given a rare account of life as captives. While
one who was held captive for 15 days,
said she had a marriage proposal from one of the Islamist militants, the other
said she was almost turned into a killer.
“They
asked me if I am Christian or Muslim. I said I am a Christian,” said
23-year-old Liatu, as she recounted her ordeal
in the hands of Boko Haram members to the British Broadcasting
Corporation. “On
the 11th day (in captivity), they brought a man to me and said that he liked me
and that I should convert to Islam so
that he can marry me,” she added in the report published by the BBC on Monday.
Liatu
claimed that in Sambisa Forest, Borno State, where she was taken to after being
seized at a roadblock last year, she
witnessed the killing of 50 persons by the insurgents. According
to her, the insurgents, who had earlier killed Muslims employed by the
government, preferred to use knives to slit peoples’ throats than shooting
them. She
said, “They were slitting people’s throats with knives. Both women and men were
killed, especially the men who didn’t agree to fight for them.
“Those
that tried to escape were shot but they hardly ever used their guns to kill.
They usually used knives. About 50 people were killed right in front of me.” Liatu also told the BBC that the
terrorists were usually tipped
off about any imminent attack by the
army. This,
she claimed, allowed the militants to
hide in caves and forests close to the Cameroonian border.
Liatu,
who refused to eat anything during her
days in captivity, added that after being told about the proposed marriage,
she made an extremely risky escape. She
said, “One of the captives stood up and said, ‘You only die once. Who is ready
to make a run for it?’ Six of us jumped into one of the Boko Haram vehicles in
the camp – a Volkswagen Golf.
“They
chased us on motorbikes, shooting at the car until we got close to Bama town.
Then they left and we got out of the car to continue on foot as there was a
curfew in place. It was only then that I realised the three people on the
backseat had all been shot dead.”
Like,
Liatu, 19-year-old Janet, said she witnessed the slaughtering of people by the
militants. “They
went to Gwoza and brought five people to the camp. They started slaughtering
them in front of me,” said Janet, who
was in the insurgents’ den for
three months.
At
a point, she added, the insurgents ordered her
to slit the throat of one of the captured people but she declined.
“Then
they ordered me to slit one of their throats. I refused. I told them I couldn’t
do it. Then the wife of the leader of the group killed him instead.” Janet
said. She
said she recognised the faces of the men who held her captive as most of them
came from her area. Janet
said, “I knew almost all the people in the group I was with. I knew them from
my home area. “I
was really angry and when I couldn’t keep quiet any longer, I said to one of
them, ‘When we were at home you would even visit me and I respected you. So why
are you doing this to me?”
A
teacher who survived last month’s attack on a boarding school in Yobe State
also narrated to the BBC how the insurgents killed some pupils in the
institution. “I
peeped through the window and saw the gunshots coming in… and there was a lot
of shouting,” he said, declining to give his name.
The
teacher added, “I came back silently and said, ‘Let us lock our doors and pray.
If they come in, that is maybe the end of our lives.’ We kept on praying and
praying and praying. “In
one house, they even met two children that had been left behind by their
parents who had fled to the bush. After coming in, the insurgents saw the
children sleeping on their mattress.
“They
woke them up asked them to go outside. They put the mattress outside and asked
them to sleep. Then they set the house ablaze. “We
cried. Some of them were slaughtered like goats. Others were shot. “Most
of them had high hopes that they would be future leaders. Some of them in class
were telling us they would be lawyers and doctors. They were full of ambition.”
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