According to Icirnigeria report,
Fifty-six year old woman who was recently released by Boko Haram said that the
Chibok girls abducted in April 2014 are being held in Gwoza town in Borno
State.
With reference to the
International Center for Investigative Mbutu Papka was kidnapped in July, 2014
and held by the insurgents in the same location as the abducted Chibok girls.
Reportedly, the abducted girls are being kept under very tight security in a
house in Gwoza.
Papka said that nobody was
allowed near the fenced building where the abducted girls are being held under
24-hour security. “Even the heavily armed guards who keep watch over the girls
round the clock are only allowed to go into the house to deliver food, water
and other supplies to them,” she said.
After Boko Haram attacked
Gwoza on July 4, 2014, Mbutu Papka along with others was taken to Mdita, a
remote village near the notorious Sambisa Forest, bordering Askira Uba, Damboa
and Gwoza. The abductees reportedly were kept in Mdita for five months before
being transferred to Gwoza, where they were held for three more months till
Nigerian army released them on March 15.
Though Papka has never seen
the Chibok girls, she explained that people in the area pointed at the heavily
guarded flat and said the girls were inside.
“Because access to the
house was restricted the girls apparently did their own cooking and chores by
themselves,” she said
“In the camp at Gwoza,
there were clear demarcations between where people were kept. The Chibok girls,
other captives and Boko Haram members and their family members all had their
separate areas secured, though the security in the area where the girls are
kept is visibly different and much tighter,” she added.
According to Papka, the
conditions under which the captives in Gwoza were kept were fairly tolerable
and far better than the first location, as there was water supply.
“When we got to Gwoza,
things changed because there were facilities there and the place was 10 times
better than Mdita. We had a normal life in Gwoza, except the trauma of living
in captivity. Whatever we wanted to eat, they were provided. They would bring
water, firewood, etc., and leave them outside,” she explained.
Speaking about living
conditions at Mdita, she recalled that the place stank and maggots were
everywhere because of lack of water. She also said that she met other abducted
people including women and children, among whom were many under the age of
seven.
Because of the terrible
conditions and absence of health care facilities in the camp, many people fell
sick and some died.
“There was a Redeemed
Christian Church of God pastor who was killed during the attack on our village,
and his wife was abducted with us. She died at Mdita due to the condition of
the place and the death of her husband,” she told.
According to Papka, she and
the other women were not raped or assaulted, though she could not speak for the
Chibok girls because nobody was allowed to see or interact with them.
She also said that the Boko
Haram men lived with their wives and children in the Gwoza camp, but kept away
from others and cooked their own meals.
On March 15, 2015, after
three months in Gwoza, Papka and 10 other older women were taken from the camp,
herded into a vehicle and driven to Izge, a village, from where she was taken
to her own village on a motorcycle because the road is bad. Details on the
ICiR.
Gwoza town was first
captured by the insurgents in August last year, following a heavy gun attack by
insurgents who hoisted the sect’s flag and declared it the headquarters of the
group’s Caliphate.
Over 12,000 persons were
displaced from the town and repeated attempts by the military to recapture it
in the past have failed largely due to the hilly terrain, which provide hiding
places for the terrorists from which to operate.
This is not the first time
that released Boko Haram abductees have claimed to know where the Chibok girls
are being held.
Emman Shehu, a founding
member of the Bring Back Our Girls group, told our reporter during the week
that a young girl who was released last week and an elderly woman had
previously claimed that the Chibok girls were being kept in Damboa and Sambisa
area.
No comments:
Post a Comment