Amirah Salihu, a nurse and daughter of the chief of Woro community in Kwara State, has recounted delivering 10 babies without gloves or medical equipment during nearly six months in terrorist captivity. She was among 176 women and children freed on July 25, 2026, after being abducted on February 3 from Woro and Nuku communities in Kaiama Local Government Area.
Survival in the Bush: Hunger and Rain
Salihu described the harsh conditions captives endured, including poor feeding and exposure to the elements. "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 told Channels Television's Politics Today on Friday, July 25.
The group slept outdoors near a river, often in the rain. "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," Salihu added. This lack of basic shelter and warmth compounded the suffering of the captives, many of whom were women and children.
Childbirth Without Medical Supplies
When pregnant women among the captives went into labour, the abductors called for a nurse. Salihu initially stayed quiet, but eventually assisted. "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 recounted.
Once the terrorists realized her skills, they tried to hold her back. "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," Salihu said. Her refusal underscored her determination to return to her family and community despite the risks.
Motives Behind the Attack
Salihu said the attackers justified their violence in religious terms. "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 explained.
She lost two brothers in the attack, which she attributed to her father's earlier resistance to the group. "They said it's because of my dad, because my dad did not allow them to come to our village," she said, adding that her father had previously brought soldiers to the area, but the attackers struck after the soldiers had left. Salihu also confirmed there were no cases of rape or sexual assault during the captivity.
Rescue and Aftermath
The Kwara State Government confirmed that 13 children died in captivity and 12 others were not among those freed. Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq received the survivors in Ilorin on Friday, July 25, and later visited a general hospital where 14 sick victims, including three women who gave birth in captivity, were receiving treatment.
Previously, Legit.ng reported that the Kwara State Government announced on Wednesday, August 5, that the victims had been freed. The announcement came through a post on the government's official Facebook page, more than five months after the deadly attack on Woro and Nuku communities. The release of the 176 captives marked a significant development in the state's response to one of the most violent raids it has recorded.
