A total of 158 Women and children abducted by Boko Haram
insurgents from Katarko village in Yobe have been reunited
with their families in Damaturu, Yobe. The victims were
released by the sect members after three weeks of captivity.
Alhaji Ahmed Goniri, the state Commissioner for Justice and
Chairman of the State Committee on Rehabilitation of Victims
of Insurgency, said this while addressing newsmen in
Damaturu on Thursday.
“The victims were screened by security operatives to
authenticate their status while government provided
them with psychological therapy to ease their trauma,”
Goniri said.
NAN reports that the victims were released by the insurgents
three weeks ago but remained in custody of security agencies
to undergo screening to ensure that they were indeed
captives. Alhaji Abdurahman Dauda, a displaced person, said
his wife and six girls were released by the insurgents.
“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 preferred to remain anonymous, said’ “to be fair
to the insurgents, they did not rape or abused 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 assistance, Goniri said government
commiserated with the families of the victims and provided
the relief materials to help them to resettle.
He said 20 boys were still in custody of the insurgents and
expressed hope that the renewed operation against the
insurgents would rescue them from their captors.
(NAN