August 8, 2026 | 8:10 AM
A nurse who was among those abducted during the February 3 terrorist attack on Woro and Nuku communities in Kaiama LGA, Kwara State, has narrated her experience in captivity.Amirah Salihu, daughter of the Chief of Woro, Umar Salihu, said she spent almost six months with other captives before they were freed on Wednesday.
Speaking on Channels Television’s _Politics Today_ on Friday, Salihu said she assisted 10 pregnant women to deliver babies without gloves or medical tools.“They asked if there was a nurse among us. I said no at first, but I’m a nurse.
I used my bare hands to help about 10 women deliver,” she said.According to her, conditions in captivity were harsh. The captives were poorly fed and forced to sleep in open areas, sometimes by a riverbank despite rainfall.“The food was terrible. On the first day, they gave us guinea corn with salt and Maggi. After that, it was just corn, no oil, no pepper.
Some days we didn’t even get Maggi, only salt,” she recalled.She added that they were sometimes given _kuka_ but that stopped later. “They kept us by the river. That was where we slept. Rain would fall on us. If we made fire, they told us to put it out.”Salihu said the abductors later discovered her nursing skills and asked her to stay with them, but she refused.“They wanted me to remain with them, but I said no.
I wanted to come back home,” she said.On the motive for the attack, she said the gunmen claimed they were “doing Allah’s work” and rejected democracy and the constitution, insisting they wanted Sharia.She also said her two brothers were killed during the attack “because my father refused to allow them into our village.
” Her father, she noted, had earlier brought in soldiers to protect the community, but the attackers struck when the soldiers had left.When asked about sexual violence, she said: “No, there was no case of rape or sexual assault.”The victims were part of the 176 women and children abducted from Woro and Nuku. According to the Kwara State Government, 13 children died in captivity and 12 others are still being held.
Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq received the freed captives in Ilorin on Friday and condoled with families of those who died. He also visited a hospital where 14 victims, including three women who gave birth in captivity, are receiving treatment.The governor thanked President Bola Tinubu and the military for their role in the rescue.
