After 191 days in captivity, the remaining 23 of the passengers abducted by terrorists during an attack on an Abuja-Kaduna train on March 28 finally regained freedom on Wednesday. One of the freed captives recalls their horrendous experiences in the den of their abductors for close to 200 days, ABDULGAFAR ALABELEWE and FAITH YAHAYA report
After they were stabilised, most of the freed hostages were taken to the Nigerian Defence Academy’s medical centre where President Muhammadu Buhari met them on Thursday before they were reunited with their families at the Nigerian Air Force medical centre same day.
While 17 of them were discharged from the hospital on Thursday evening, the six others who were yet to be stable were kept on admission at the military facility.
Among those who were still on admission yesterday was Lois Azurfa, the 21-year-old 300 level student of Kaduna State University, who one of the terrorist commanders had threatened to forcibly marry.
Her brother, Bally Moses, told The Nation that, “as I speak with you, Lois is still on admission. She is still very sick. In fact, she required blood transfusion, so I had to go to the hospital to donate blood.”
Like Lois Azurfa, other freed hostages who appeared to be physically stable were suffering from post traumatic disorder, no thanks to the inhuman treatment they were subjected to by their captors, who kept them in the jungle for 191 days.
Confirming his post abduction trauma condition, one of the freed hostages, Muhammad Abdulllahi, told one of our correspondents that he was still getting scared of anything that sounded like a gunshot even though he knew he was now in the comfort of his family house.
Narrating his ordeal, Abdullahi, a member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), said he had joined the train on that fateful evening because he was confident that it is safer than travelling by road, but the attack, which he likened to a scene in a Hollywood movie, proved him wrong.
He said: “First of all, I thank Almighty Allah for allowing me to see this day, to taste freedom again.
“I am a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member serving in Niger State.
“I had gone to Niger to do my documentation. On my way back, I decided to join the train in the belief that it was safer than travelling by road.
“Right from the scene of the attack, I was so scared and traumatized because the attack on the train was like a scene in a Hollywood movie.
“I thought I was dreaming, but I later realised it was a reality. They were firing gunshots. Some people were killed instantly, some were injured and about 65 of us were marched into the bush.”
Abdulllahi said his taste of the terrible life in the bandits’ camp started with their journey into the jungle.
He said: “We trekked barefooted for four good days. We stopped at some of the bandits’ transit camps and we continued until we arrived at their main camp. Once there, we were never moved anywhere again. That was where we were in all the 191 days we spent in the jungle.
“Many of the things that happened in the jungle are better imagined because I don’t wish that even my worst enemy would go through such experience.
“Because they play with guns there, there was a day one of us was shot as a result of accidental discharge.
“That day, we were in our hut and the bandits on guard were playing with a gun. All of a sudden, the gun just exploded and one of us was hit in the stomach.
“The terrorists told us that they attacked the train because of the government. They said they were fighting the government because it is a democratic government, and they believe that whoever is practising democracy is on the wrong path.”
Speaking on his current state of mind, the freed hostage said: “Even now that I am out of captivity, I feel shock whenever I hear anything like a gunshot or a helicopter passing.
“Life in the terrorists’ den was terrible. We were staying for days without bathing. We were fed only twice in a day and mostly with carbohydrates. They did give us Tuwo with soup. At other times it was rice or one food they called dambu; it is made with corn flour.”
Abdullahi also confirmed the story that the terrorists gave all the captives allowance, saying, “Yes, at a point, the captors gave us allowance of N10,000 each. They gave us the money twice so that we could buy things like garri, kulikuli, sugar or teabags. They told us that whenever we needed anything, we should send the bandits on guard.”
Reacting to the viral video released by the terrorists where they were seen torturing the hostages, Abdullahi said: “On that day, the terrorists were trying to release three people among us, and on their way, they saw a military checkpoint and had to turn back to the camp. That was the day they did the video where they were beating us. They said they wanted the government to withdraw the military from their way.
“It is also true that they used to bring doctors to the camp to treat those that were sick and those that were injured. And whenever we requested for medication, they use to bring medicines to the camp.”
Thanking God for sparing his life through the torturous journey, the young Abdullahi said as a believer in God, he was hopeful throughout the 191 days that he would one day regain freedom, especially when the terrorists started releasing his fellow hostages in batches.
“Each time they released a batch of people, I also felt relieved that there was hope that one day it would be my turn.
“Before they would release any batch, they would tell us ahead of time. They would come and say so and so persons should get ready to be escorted out of the camp,” he said.
Our nightmare is over, says wife of released hostage
The wife of one of the hostages, Mrs Evelyn Asiribo, who for 191 days grappled with the reality of her husband’s sojourn in terrorists’ den sounded overly excited when The Nation called to confirm the news of the release of the remaining 23 hostages.
Before the captives were released on Wednesday, Asiribo, who had earlier spoken to our correspondent, said she was asked by her husband to stop working so as to focus on taking care of one of her children who had a health challenge. But with the long absence of her husband, she had contemplated going back to the labour market to seek employment in order to take care of her children and herself.
She had said: “It has become compulsory for me to be strong. I am just thinking about my life right now because I stopped working because of my daughter who has a health challenge.
“But going forward, I will try to see how I can manage her health. I will need to dust my CV and start looking for job. But the possibility of getting a job is very slim.”
In a conversation with one of our correspondents on Saturday, Mrs Asiribo ascribed her husband’s release and how she was able to cope in his absence to God. She said her husband saw hell in the camp of the terrorists.
She said that the bandits’ eyes were particularly on her husband because of his style of haircut and his identity card. The husband had on him an ID card he obtained from the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) because he was running a programme there. She said the ID cards coupled with his looks made the bandits to suspect that he was a military officer.
Mrs. Asiribo said: “I have finally seen my husband. He came in yesterday (Friday). Finally, the nightmare is over. It is not easy.
“For months, our prayer point was the same. We kept telling God the same thing and we thank God that answers prayers.
“If not for God, where would we have raised the ransom from? I told somebody that even if they gave us 100 years to raise the N100 million, we would still be unable to raise it.
“It was even difficult to raise N1million, so when I remembered that the target was to raise N100 million, I just gave up and handed everything over to God.
“There is nothing like freedom. My husband himself said God is a God of freedom. He jokingly said in Pidgin English, ‘Freedom no be anybody mate o’. He also said he is very happy to taste what freedom feels like once again.”
Asked how her husband was feeling, she said: “He is very strong. Our house has been crowded with well-wishers.
“To be frank with you, my husband encountered God, and those who have been coming around testified because he did not look like someone who has been in captivity for over six months. He did not look like someone who just came out from the forest.
“I have seen families who came out looking thin or pale, but in my husband’s case, he is looking fine. To be honest, God was with him.
“My mother saw him and said he enjoyed angelic feeding unlike what we had expected. We thought he would shrink and that he would need assistance to walk, but God proved himself. He is very strong.”
Going forward, she said, “I don’t wish anybody I know and even do not know to experience this incident. It is not an experience you would wish even your worst enemy.
“I will still look for a job. It is not good to sit idle. But when circumstances make you sit, you just have to find an alternative.
“If we did not have good neighbours, family members and helping hands from other places, survival would have been difficult.
“To be frank with you, throughout his absence, God supplied all our needs. God really raised helpers for us. I never begged for one day. Before the need arose, God miraculously supplied, even down to my daughter’s health.
“Getting drugs was not an issue. I did not have need to complain that anything I needed finished. Before it finished, people would come to knock and give us things for upkeep.
“You can imagine I am not working and in this kind of situation, how would I have coped without God? God was sufficient all through and we cannot thank Him enough.
“Even in the forest, he was with my husband.”
On her husband’s experience, she said: “At some point, my husband said they wanted to kill them and they accused him of being a military man. His hairstyle made them to suspect him.
“He is running a programme in NDA and they saw his ID card, so they kept insisting he is a soldier. So, he said he suffered and because of that alone, their eyes were on him.
“Even the other hostages were not free with him. He was seriously monitored. Even amongst the hostages, he was seen as a suspect because of his looks.
“Other hostages could walk freely, but if he attempted it, they would ask the guards to watch his moves.
“We thank God that the nightmare is over and the battle has been won.”
@ The Nation Newspaper
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