I Delivered 10 Babies with My Bare Hands in Captivity — Rescued Kwara Nurse Recounts Ordeal

I Delivered 10 Babies with My Bare Hands in Captivity — Rescued Kwara Nurse Recounts Ordeal

Amirah Salihu, a nurse and daughter of the Woro community chief, has shared the harrowing conditions she and other captives endured during nearly six months in terrorist captivity. She revealed that she helped 10 pregnant women deliver their babies with her bare hands, without gloves or medical equipment, and that the terrorists later attempted to keep her because of her skills .

The Kwara State Government has officially received 176 victims who were abducted during the February 3 terrorist attack on Woro and Nuku communities in Kaiama Local Government Area, marking the end of a traumatic chapter for families who had waited nearly six months for the return of their loved ones. The victims regained their freedom on Wednesday, August 5, following a coordinated intelligence-led operation by security forces that demonstrated the government’s commitment to securing the release of abducted citizens. The rescue operation, which also freed 145 captives from neighbouring Niger State, was described by President Bola Tinubu as the largest same-day rescue operation ever carried out by a joint security team, underscoring the scale and complexity of the mission that brought the captives home.

Amirah Salihu, a nurse and the daughter of Umar Salihu, the chief of Woro community, disclosed in an interview aired by Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday that she took delivery of 10 pregnant women with her bare hands while in captivity, a testament to her courage and professional dedication under the most unimaginable circumstances. Salihu described the severe deprivation the captives faced daily, recounting that they were poorly fed and often slept in the open, including near a river, despite heavy rainfall that made their already difficult existence even more unbearable. “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 said, painting a vivid picture of the malnutrition and hunger that plagued the captives throughout their ordeal.

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According to Salihu, the captives were sometimes given kuka, a local food preparation, but the abductors eventually stopped providing it, leaving them with even fewer options for sustenance. The sleeping conditions were equally brutal, as she recounted: “And 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,” describing the constant exposure to the elements and the lack of basic shelter that made their captivity a daily struggle for survival. Salihu said her nursing skills became crucial when the abductors asked whether there was a nurse among the captives as pregnant women began going into labour, a moment that would test her professional abilities in the most challenging environment imaginable. She initially concealed her profession out of caution but eventually stepped forward to help, demonstrating remarkable bravery and compassion. “I helped like 10 women for the delivery, without gloves. I used my hands to help them,” she said, describing the extraordinary lengths she went to in order to save lives without any of the basic medical equipment that nurses would normally rely on.

The terrorists later discovered her skills and wanted her to remain with them, recognizing the value of her medical expertise, but she refused their demand, determined to return to her family and community. “But at last, 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,” she stated firmly, revealing her resilience and her unwillingness to be separated from her loved ones any longer. Salihu also recounted the motive behind the attack and the personal loss she suffered, providing insight into the terrorists’ ideology and the devastating impact on her family. “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 said, explaining the justification the attackers gave for their violent actions.

She disclosed that two of her brothers were killed during the attack, a loss that has left her family grieving while also trying to rebuild their lives: “They even killed my brothers—my senior brother and my junior brother. And those… they said it’s because of my dad, because my dad did not allow them to come to our village” . According to her, her father had resisted the terrorists’ attempts to enter the community and had brought soldiers to protect the village, demonstrating his commitment to protecting his people, but the attackers struck after the soldiers had left, taking advantage of the temporary gap in security. When asked whether the captives were subjected to rape or sexual assault, Salihu said there was no such incident, offering some relief amid the otherwise grim account: “No, no case of rape or sexual assault, no” .

The Kwara State Government confirmed that 13 children died in captivity, a tragic reminder of the toll that prolonged abduction takes on the most vulnerable, while 12 others remained behind with the terrorists, their fate still uncertain . Nafisat Abdulfatai, another survivor, explained that the children were not released because the abductors threatened that those who tried to leave would become slaves, revealing the psychological manipulation the captives endured. She also recounted that the captives ate only once on most days and survived mainly on “luru” soup prepared with only salt, further detailing the extreme deprivation that characterised their daily existence. Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, received the rescued victims in Ilorin on Friday and commiserated with the families of those who died in captivity, offering the government’s support and condolences to those who had lost loved ones. The governor disclosed that 46 rescued victims were receiving treatment in hospitals, including three women who gave birth in captivity, highlighting the ongoing medical needs of the survivors. He thanked President Bola Tinubu and the military hierarchy for their roles in the rescue operation, noting that the President had approved the establishment of five Army battalions in strategic locations across Kwara State as part of broader efforts to enhance security and prevent future attacks .