Missionaries Narrate Ordeal Of Rescued Boko Haram Victims

Victims recently rescued from Boko Haram by the Nigerian Army shared their experiences when they attempted to flee the terrorists. 

According to the Nigerian watch, some rescued victims claimed that while in captivity they were forced to eat grass and drink urine for days.

More than 1,300 victims at the recently built camp Uhogua community camp said they saw hell while in captivity.

The Uhogua community camp, in Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State was acquired by Pastor Solomon Folorunsho, the president of the International Christian Center.

Meanwhile, 28- year-old German, Linda Shoes who works in the camp, said: “I am working with the children in need here especially from the northeast and so many of them have seen their own parents killed and their families slaughtered. For three weeks they were hiding in the mountains, no food, no water, they ate stones and sand to survive.  

“So many of them, when they came here, the clothes they wore were the same clothes they fled with the day Boko Haram came. No pants, nothing on their feet and some even came here naked.”  

Shoes she said she left Germany to help the rescued children as she was moved by their plight.

The rescued children are housed in wooden structures and uncompleted buildings in the community.

In the camp, a section is reserved for chicken pox victims who are quarantined and only allowed to join the others if deemed fit by the volunteer doctors and nurses who come from the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Faith Medical Complex and the Catholic Church in Benin.

A victim in the camp, 10-year-old Esther Habila is said to be a special case as the trauma of seeing her parents murdered in front of her.

A missionary said:“She spent one month and two weeks with Boko Haram in Gwoza, Borno State and then escaped with some people and they trekked to Cameroun for four days and then to Yola. Her parents were butchered in her presence, so the trauma has been there and she hardly talks, just cries and screams.”

Most of the girls in the camp are said to have lost contact with their parents when the terrorists raided their villages.

The missionaries have however started registering several of the victims to sit for the Senior School Certificate and National Common Entrance examinations.

Over recent weeks, the Nigerian military has enjoyed significant success in driving Boko Haram out of many of its strongholds and rescuing large numbers of women and children held in captivity.