The recently released abductees from Borno State have opened up about the appalling conditions they endured while being held by armed bands for three months. Among them were men, women, and children from Ngoshe, a community in Gwoza Local Government Area, who were seized on March 4 and finally set free on June 6.
Halima Musa, one of the former captives, recalled that the hostages had to prepare their own meals. She stated, “We were given only guinea corn to eat once a day. If you ate around 2 p.m., you had to wait until the next day for the next meal. Sometimes there was no soup at all. We cooked the food ourselves. They provided the ingredients.” She added that throughout their ordeal, they slept on the bare ground in the mountains, with no mats or blankets.
Another victim, Khadijat, revealed that their release occurred without any exchange of gunfire or direct contact with security forces. She explained, “When we were freed, there were other people already there who had been kidnapped before us. Eleven of them had spent seven months there. They were abducted from a river while fishing. But all of us were released together.”
On Monday, Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum visited the freed individuals and announced a rehabilitation program for the Ngoshe community. He expressed gratitude to President Bola Tinubu and the security agencies for their efforts in securing the release. Zulum mentioned that approximately 434 abducted persons had been freed in phases, with about 360 returning two days earlier. He also disclosed that the state government had allocated millions of naira to rebuild Ngoshe and was collaborating with the military to facilitate the safe return of residents willing to go back home.