158 Boko Haram Abductees Reunite With Families

About 158 abductees held hostage by the Boko Haram militants in Yobe State have reunited with their family members.

The abductees, comprising women and children, were abducted in Katarko town of Gujba Local Government Area of the state.

After their release, the abductees have gone through some psychological and trauma reforms in the hands of security agents before they were eventually released to the state government.

Presenting the victims to their family members, the Chairman of the State Committee on Rehabilitation and Resettlement of Insurgency Victims, Barrister Ahmed Goneri, said that the 158 victims include 62 adults while the remaining 96 are children and were abducted late last year after the attack carried out by the insurgents in Katarko town.

According to Barrister Ahmed, 15 of the 62 adults had become widows because of the attack on the town.

The Chairman said that the adults would be given two bags of rice, sugar, cartons of noodles and a bag of salt as well.

Mr Ahmed also revealed that those identified as widows in the attack would be given N50,000 support, while others would be given N30,000 stressing that such money would help them start up life after the attack.

He praised the Yobe State Government for the gesture and thanked security agents for all the measures taken towards ensuring the abductees are healthy.

The Chairman of Gujba Local Government, Kyari Batarama, also appreciated support from various quarters towards the recovery of those abducted. He called for sustained security measures towards capturing the towns still under the control of insurgents.

Abdulrahaman Dauda, who discovered the released detainees in Kasaisa village, outskirts of Damaturu, said that they were in a serious state of trauma when he saw them, thanking God that he had seen his abducted family members.

He expressed hope that the remaining people being held captive would also be released by the abductors.

One of the victims, Hauwa Mohammed, said, ”They did not maltreat us since whisking us away for three weeks. We had enough food and drinks all through our stay in captivity.

“Any time they enter our apartment to preach their ideologies to us, they ask us to avoid looking at them. They will always criticise us as pagans. When they were releasing us, they asked us to prepare and join those pagans in the town.

“We thank God that we have reunited with our family members after three weeks of being in captivity.”