A nurse rescued after spending nearly six months in captivity following the February 3, 2026, terrorist attack on Woro and Nuku communities in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State, Amirah Salihu, has recounted the harsh conditions endured by the abducted victims.
Salihu, who is the daughter of the chief of Woro community, Umar Salihu, said she helped 10 pregnant women deliver their babies during the period in captivity, often without gloves or other medical equipment.
She disclosed this in an interview aired on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday, August 7, 2026.
According to her, the captives were poorly fed and were sometimes forced to sleep in the open, including near a river, despite heavy rainfall.
“The kind of food that they were giving us was bad. The day that we got there, they just dropped guinea corn for us with salt and Maggi. Every day after, they gave us one bag of corn without oil, pepper, nothing. There was a day that they didn’t even give us Maggi again, just salt,” she said.
Salihu said the abductors sometimes provided kuka, a local food preparation, but later stopped giving it to the captives.
She added that the captives were forced to sleep in a river area and were prevented from making fires even when it rained.
“And they kept us inside river. The place that we sleep is inside river. And rain always used to fall, sometimes. If we set fire, they asked us to put off the fire,” she said.
The nurse said she began assisting pregnant women after the abductors asked whether there was a nurse among the captives.
“Sometimes they give us fruits, sometimes they don’t give us. That’s how we used to sleep with our children. And I have seen people over there, pregnant woman, that they deliver.
“They asked of nurse, ‘Is there any nurse with us?’ I said no, because I was… I am also a nurse, I just used to help pregnant women do delivery. I helped like 10 women for the delivery, without gloves. I used my hands to help them,” she said.
Salihu said the terrorists later discovered that she was a nurse and attempted to keep her in captivity, but she refused.
“But at last, when they got to know, they wanted to keep me, that I should stay with them, but I said no. I want to come back,” she said.
Explaining what the attackers told the captives about their motives, Salihu said they claimed they were fighting in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic teachings and opposed Nigeria’s constitutional democracy.
“They always say that they are working for Allah’s work. That they want us to work with what Allah said. That all what we are doing, we are doing constitution, democracy—that it is not good. That they want us to work with Quran. That’s the reason why they entered our village, killed everybody,” she said.
She also recounted how her two brothers were killed during the attack.
“They even killed my brothers—my senior brother and my junior brother. And those… they said it’s because of my dad, because my dad did not allow them to come to our village,” she said.
Salihu said her father had resisted the terrorists’ attempts to enter the community and had invited soldiers to protect the area.
However, she said the attackers eventually struck when the soldiers were no longer present.
“They just came to our house that day, suddenly, and people came to our house. The way I saw them, I knew that yes, they are Boko Haram, because the way they dressed, I knew that they are Boko Haram,” she said.
Asked whether the captives were subjected to rape or sexual assault during their captivity, Salihu said there was no such incident.
“No, no case of rape or sexual assault, no,” she said.
The victims were among 176 women and children abducted during the February 3, 2026, attack on Woro and neighbouring Nuku communities.
They regained their freedom on Wednesday, August 5, 2026, after nearly six months in captivity.
The Kwara State Government said 13 children died while in captivity, while 12 other abductees remained behind.
Truth Live News gathered that other rescued victims had previously recounted severe hunger and deprivation during their captivity, saying they often ate only once a day and slept in the forest.
Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, received the rescued victims in Ilorin on Friday, August 7, 2026, and commiserated with families of those who died in captivity.
He thanked President Bola Tinubu and the military hierarchy for their roles in securing the victims’ release.
The governor later visited a general hospital where 14 sick victims, including three women who gave birth while in captivity, were receiving treatment.
