A rescued nurse from Woro community in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State, Amirah Salihu, has recounted the harsh conditions she and other victims endured during nearly six months in terrorist captivity, revealing that she helped 10 pregnant women deliver their babies without medical gloves.

Salihu, daughter of the chief of Woro community, Umar Salihu, was among those abducted during the February 3 terrorist attack on Woro and neighbouring Nuku communities.

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 forced to sleep 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 occasionally given kuka, but the abductors eventually stopped providing it.

She added that the victims, including children, were sometimes made to sleep near a river and were prevented from making fires even during rainfall.

“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 said.

Salihu said she assisted several pregnant women who went into labour while in captivity after the terrorists asked whether there was a nurse among the abductees.

“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.

She said the terrorists later discovered that she was a nurse and attempted to keep her in captivity, but she refused.

“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 added.

On the motive behind the attack, Salihu said the terrorists claimed they wanted the community to abandon Nigeria’s constitutional and democratic system and embrace Islamic law.

“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.

Salihu also recounted the killing of her two brothers during the attack, alleging that the terrorists targeted them because of their father’s resistance to their activities.

“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 brought soldiers in to protect the village. However, the attackers struck after the soldiers had left.

“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.

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 176 women and children abducted during the February 3 attack on Woro and neighbouring Nuku communities.

They regained their freedom on Wednesday after nearly six months in captivity.

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

Other rescued victims also 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.

The governor thanked President Bola Tinubu and the military hierarchy for their roles in the rescue operation.

He later visited a general hospital where 14 sick victims, including three women who gave birth while in captivity, were receiving treatment.