15-year-old girl recounts 7-week ordeal in Boko Haram den

     
A fifteen year old girl, Abigail John who was one of the students of the Government Day Secondary School, Jang, Michika Local Government Area of Adamawa State, kidnapped on October 29, 2014.
She has been found.
 
In a telephone conversation with Vanguard Newspaper, Abigail recounts her experience with the dreaded terrorist sect, how she was abducted alongside other victims.
 
See excerpts:
“In the night, they brought bread and drinks for us to eat for supper. There was no serious event that night until the following day. In the morning, we were given bread and other things for breakfast and later, they cooked and served us. Thereafter, one of the Boko Harm members started preaching Islam to us.”
“While this preaching was going on, a military jet came in and dropped a bomb very close to the house. Moments later, they dropped a second bomb which hit the building where we were kept. When the aircraft was approaching to drop the second bomb, the terrorists forced us into the main house while they escaped. Only one of the terrorists was struck by the bomb, the rest ran away. Some of the abducted people in the house – five women and a child – died but most of the people were injured. Those who were not affected by the bomb managed to escape.”
“I was among the injured so we were put in Keke Napep (tricycles) and taken to a clinic. At the clinic, I saw one woman whose leg was amputated, they gave her anesthesia and sleeping tablets to reduce the pain and enable her sleep. Various treatments were administered to the injured. We were then taken to a house close to the clinic.”
They made new attires and long scarves for each of us. So we all had to wear that as a sign that we were living under an Islamic caliphate.”
“We were taught how to recite some verses of the Koran. Those who were slightly injured were taught how to say the Moslem prayer five times a day.”
 
“On the first Sunday of December when the terrorists got wind of the fact that soldiers were advancing towards Mubi, the terrorists and some of their female members that came along with the registered members ran away and left us in that house. When some of the abducted ladies who were not injured discovered that the terrorists were gone, they also escaped and left those of us that were injured.”
“Two girls among us who were not too badly injured, scaled the fence to go and report to the military that we were held hostage in that house. That was how the military got to know that there were people in the house.
The soldiers couldn’t move us out immediately because of our injuries.
“I have a broken arm and honestly, I don’t know how it got broken but it was after the bomb attack that I discovered I had a broken arm. While in captivity, the terrorists brought a traditional healer to treat the hand. I have been in great pains,” said Abigail.
Abigail is now undergoing treatment with the help of the Catholic Diocese of Yola.
“They surrounded the house where we were kept but thank God, they did not rape us, especially those of us who were captured in Mubi.”
Asked if she will want to go back to school, Abigail who wants to become a lawyer and practise in Lagos or Abuja, said “I am scared to go back to Jang or Mubi but I want to continue my education.”