Two women, a child escaped Boko Haram, ISWAP captivity, six years after abduction
By Tada Juthan, Maiduguri
Two women and a five-year-old child have escaped the Boko Haram and Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) captivities at Ran and Kangaruwa terrorists’ hideouts in Kala/Balge and Guzamala local councils of Borno.
The terrorists abducted Alice Loksha, 42, and two International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) staff in March 2018, and were forcefully taken to Tombumma, where Alice was kept for two days, before taken to Kwalleram.
While handing over the escaped women, Saturday to the Borno state government in Maiduguri, the Theatre Commander of Operation Hadin (OPHK), represented by his deputy, Maj-Gen. Kenneth Chigbu disclosed: “Alice spent seven months in captivity, and was forced to marry Abu Umar, which gave birth to son, Mohammed.”
He noted that Umar, was however, killed by his colleagues in the Kala/Balge hideouts.
Piqued by the killing, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) staff, was again forced to marry an ISWAP commander, Abu Simak in 2022, before he was banished to Dogon Chuku, a camp at the exit portals.
“Thereafter, she braved to escape from terrorists’ captivity on October 24, 2024 through the Diffa-Geidam axis in Yobe state.
He added that Alice and her son arrived the Maimalari Theatre Command on 29 October 29, 2024 where she was medically profiled against any disease.
Besides the escape of Alice with her child, Chigbu added that Fayina Akilawus was abducted on the Maiduguri-Benisheikh Road on October 19, 2020.
Chigbu noted that Fayina is the younger sister to late LCpl. Samuel Andrew, a soldier serving with the Nigerian Army, 212 Battalion, Maiduguri.
On how Fayila was abducted, he said: “She was on her way from Kaduna to process the death benefits of her late elder brother when she was abducted by ISWAP terrorists on that fateful day.”
Additionally, he said Fayila spent nine months in Kangaruwa captivity, before she was taken to Tumnunma she remained with one of the terrorists’ leaders, Mohammed Sheikh.
On her escape, the deputy Theatre Commander said that, after she was taken back to Kangaruwa, Fayina eventual escape from captivity.
While thanking the women for their bravery, the Commissioner of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Zuwaira Gambo said that the escapees are to be provided with psychosocial support at the Bulumkutu Rehabilitation Centre.
She noted that Governor Babagana Zulum has the passion of providing humanitarian assistance to the people affected in the 15-year insurgency that destroyed many lives and property.
Zuwaira pledged to rehabilitate the women, before joining them with their families in Borno and Adamawa states.
