A young woman, who escaped from the camp of Boko Haram in Sambisa Forest, tells OLUFEMI ATOYEBI and HINDI LIVINUS her encounter with Leah Sharibu in the camp and how eight infants and their mothers...
andher encounter with Leah Sharibu in the camp and how eight infants and their mothers died in the forest while fleeing from the insurgents
She never planned to be a mother as a young girl, but she was forced into matrimony with a Boko Haram fighter in an improvised ceremony in the forest. She was thereafter impregnated by the strange husband. She said, “I lost my parents long before I was abducted and the throat of my only sibling and half sister, Ngozi, was slit by the insurgents during a raid on Mubi while her two children were taken to the forest. She was an expectant mother when she was brutally murdered as a result of her refusal to dump her Christian faith.
“On the day Boko Haram invaded Mubi town, some boys came from Madagali and told us that Boko Haram had taken over the town and trading did not hold. Before then, Boko Haram was coming and going but Madagali had not fallen to their hands. The boys told us to flee but unknown to us, Boko Haram had been in Mubi.
She added, “In the forest where we were camped, we were told that Christians are our enemies and that Muslims are our brothers and sisters with Abubakar Shekau our supreme father. We were converted to Islam and taken through Quranic teaching and Islamic doctrine twice a week.” She said feeding in the camp was first a mixture of cucumber and a few fruits, adding that after three years, they were given rice and cucumber with salt and ground pepper.One day, Ruth said she noticed blood on the cucumber brought for them to eat and she refused to eat it. Eight others also refused to eat the bloodied vegetable fruit. These were the ones that eventually summoned the courage to escape from the camp later on.
Ruth explained that although the Boko Haram fighters were brutal at war, they were disciplined people who wouldn’t take advantage of girls in captivity. “There is a factory in the compound too where they repair guns. Boko Haram members are not just black people. I saw white-skinned people among them. Children born by women in captivity were trained to handle gun by the soldiers at the camp. As they grew up, they trained them with bigger ones. Some of the women also had training in gun handling. I attended the training once. There were girls who were given concoction to drink as part of preparation for suicide mission.
“We ate leaves and water from streams and rivers. We did not come across anyone all through the journey. At nights, we would hear the roar of wild animals but we were not attacked.” “Since she refused to convert, the soldiers told us that she was an infidel and that she should not be allowed to cook for us. Leah never attended the Islamic lesson. I am sure she is alive because I left her there. Leah is a strong believer in her faith with strong character also. Whenever any of us was ill, she would pray for us and we would be alright.
“We made them swear to an oath with the Quran, Bible or traditional means that they will not participate in any act of insurgency. Some repentant members were given punishment to sweep the town. The society has forgiven them and they are now part of us. To substantiate their loyalty, the Kabara committee is monitoring them. I am the chairman of the committee. Religious and opinion leaders are members. There are six village heads under me. We meet thrice a week.
“What baffles us now is that some of the returnees are drug addicts, even the women. Sambisa Forest is a big drug market even before the insurgency. In 1974, there was the problem of river blindness caused by tsetse flies along Gwazza and up to Madagali,” the district head stated. “From Yola, there are a few houses that have Boko Haram members living in them. As you move northward towards Maiduguri, up to Kauri, there are about 85 per cent of houses giving shelter to Boko Haram members. Sixty per cent of the insurgents are not in Sambisa; they live in Kano, Kaduna, Bauchi, Imo, Umahia, Owerri, Badagry up to Benin Republic, Ibadan and places where you find people selling cows.
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