A total of 158 women and children
abducted by Boko Haram insurgents
from Katarko village, Yobe state, have been reunited with their families in Damaturu, capital of the state.
The victims were released by the sect
members after three weeks of
captivity. Ahmed Goniri, the state commissioner for justice and chairman of the state committee on rehabilitation of victims of insurgency, said this while
addressing journalists in Damaturu on
Thursday.
He they had regained freedom three
weeks ago but remained in custody of
security agencies to undergo screening to ensure that they were indeed captives.
"The victims were screened by
security operatives to authenticate
their status while government provided
them with psychological therapy to ease their trauma," Goniri said
Abdurahman Dauda, a displaced
person, confirmed that his wife and
six daughters were among those
released.
"Two of my boys are still in their
custody, but I am of high spirit that
they will soon be rescued," he said.
One of the victims, who did not want
to be named, said: "To be fair to the
insurgents, they did not rape or abuse
us; they simply asked those who were
not interested in their religion to leave,
and they eventually released us."
Meanwhile, the state government has
provided N50,000, two bags of rice,
sugar, noodles and wrapper to each of
the 15 widows among the victims,
while 47 other women received
N30,000 each and same quantity of
rice, sugar, noodles and wrapper.
Presenting the items to them, Goniri
commiserated with them, saying the
relief materials were meant to help
them to resettle. He said 20 boys were still in custody of the insurgents and expressed hope that the renewed operation by the military would assist in rescuing them from their captors.
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