<\/p>\n
ILORIN, Kwara (AP) – Some of the 163 kidnapped Nigerians rescued from jihadi captivity have spoken of the suffering and fear they lived in for six months.<\/p>\n
The freed captives, mostly women and children, were among over 300 kidnap victims freed by Nigerian forces this week.<\/p>\n
They were handed over to the authorities by security forces in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara state, on Friday for medical attention and routine checks, and were anticipating their return home to reunite with their families.<\/p>\n
Mary Ishaya recalled days without food, and being asked alongside others to bury other hostages who died in captivity.<\/p>\n
The 44-year-old, who had never touched a dead body or buried one before, said: \u201cI still cannot find the right words to describe what has happened to us. We saw death and suffering.\u201d<\/p>\n
CBN’s Faith In Action gives you a way to make your voice heard! Stand. Sign. Pray. Sign the petition to support Congressional efforts to end the persecution of Christians in Nigeria.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n The Nigerians were abducted on Feb. 3 when jihadi militants stormed the village of Woro, killing over 160 others.<\/p>\n In the hospital where they were receiving medical attention, the freed captives looked emaciated with many laying on the floor, barely able to stand, while others had injuries and emotional scars from their ordeal. Some of the women were informed that their husbands had been among those killed during the February attack.<\/p>\n PHOTO: Women who were rescued after being held in a forest after they were abducted from the Woro community by gunmen in February receive medical attention at a hospital in Ilorin, Nigeria, Aug. 7, 2026. (AP Photo\/Abubakar Khadijat)<\/em><\/p>\n Some told The Associated Press how they had given up on any hope of returning home. Others recounted people falling sick, being beaten by the rain, and told to hide whenever Nigerian military helicopters flew over the forest hideouts where the captors held them.<\/p>\n Amira Saliu, a nurse who was among those freed, said she helped about 10 pregnant women deliver their babies in the forests.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI had no choice but to use my bare hands,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Locals in Woro said they suspected the killings and kidnapping were a punishment for their resistance to the preachings of the jihadis.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hauwa Saliu recalled how the captors constantly asked the abductees if they had accepted those preachings. Saliu, whose husband was killed in the attack, said she refused to accept them.<\/p>\n \u201cWe prayed to God to help us go back home, but it never really crossed our minds that we were going to go back home,\u201d the 30-year-old said.<\/p>\n February’s attack was one of the deadliest in Nigeria in recent years, and showed how militants who had previously focused their activities in the north are moving south through Africa\u2019s most populous nation, where gangs compete for territory and control of natural resources in villages where they outnumber the country\u2019s overstretched security forces.<\/p>\n The U.S. is providing military support to Nigeria under an agreement it says aims to protect Nigerian Christians, though much of that support is restricted to logistics and intelligence-gathering at the heart of the violence in the north.<\/p>\n Mass kidnappings have come to define Nigeria’s security issues, with schoolchildren also targeted.\u00a0<\/p>\n The victims in the Muslim-majority Woro were rescued this week alongside 145 other victims who had been kidnapped, mostly from the neighboring Niger state.\u00a0<\/p>\n PHOTO:\u00a0Nigerian women and children, who were rescued after being held hostage by gunmen in February, receive medical attention at a hospital in Ilorin, Nigeria, Aug. 7, 2026. (AP Photo\/Abubakar Khadijat)<\/em><\/p>\n Local authorities did not say how the captives were rescued from the dense, expansive forest of the Kainji Lake National Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n Nigerian President Bola Tinubu described it as the \u201clargest rescue operation ever\u201d undertaken on a single day, and promised to intensify operations against armed gangs.<\/p>\n Some of the jihadi militants in Nigeria have presented themselves as an alternative to the government in areas with limited government and security presence.<\/p>\n A key issue in Nigeria is the poor welfare of the country’s overstretched and underpaid security forces, which Tinubu has sought to address by recently announcing pay rises and mass recruitment for the military.<\/p>\n The government must find ways to act on intelligence and prevent militant attacks, rather than simply responding to them, according to Sekinat Ojeniyi, a senior analyst at global risk consultancy Africa Practice.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is time for us to recheck how much our security apparatus does to prevent\u201d attacks, said Ojeniyi.<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 The Associated Press.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ILORIN, Kwara (AP) – Some of the 163 kidnapped Nigerians rescued from jihadi captivity have spoken of the suffering and fear they lived in for six months. The freed captives, mostly women and children, were among over 300 kidnap victims freed by Nigerian forces this week. 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