Six women and nine children kidnapped by Boko Haram insurgents in Borno State, trekked for six days, covering a distance of 90 kilometers to escape from their captors. Commissioner for Women Affairs, Zuwaira Gambo, has said.
She disclosed this while presenting the victims to the state Givernor Babagana Zulum on Monday.
She said the victims trekked from Buni Yadi forest in Yobe state to Damboa town in Borno, to escape from their captors.
Buni Yadi is a known enclave for the IS-linked Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), which split from Boko Haram in 2016 to become a dominant force in the North East.
Boko Haram and rival ISWAP are notorious for kidnapping women.
They have been engaged in a 12-year old conflict that has claimed over 40,000 lives and 2 million people, mostly women and children.
Gambo said the 15 hostages were seized separately from their villages of Takulashi in Borno state’s Chibok district and Cofure in Hong district in Adamawa State, some months ago.
Chibok was where Boko Haram abducted over 200 school girls 2014, which attracted global condemnation of the group excesses.
She said three of the hostages along with their five children were seized during a raid on Takulashi in October 2020, while the other three with their four children were abducted from Cofure in May, 2021.
Zulum expressed delight receiving the hostages.
“We thank God Almighty for rescuing and protecting you from the hands of terrorists,” Zulum said.
