You may have heard this story before: some hours of television and friendly chatter after dinner, it was time for a family to retire to bed, and just then, unwelcome guests barged in, thundered instructions and sent bullets and emotions flying all over the place.
These stories have become common in Nigeria’s northwest since the Boko Haram terror group began abducting people for ransom over a decade ago. But while the sect is now occupied with regular confrontations with the Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP), copycat groups have gained prominence in recent years, and several reports detail how they attack homes and public places.
In Kaduna, thousands of people have lost their lives at the hands of ruthless terrorists. More people get abducted in the state, as data reports for the past two years indicate. While some die in captivity, others are exchanged for ransom payments, but they return broken, their innocence taken from them, and they are left with memories of unspeakable atrocities.
One such survivor is Haruna (not real name), a pastor in the Damishi area of Chikun LGA in the state. When FIJ sat with Haruna on March 25, it was 11 months since he and his wife regained freedom after they were abducted from their home.
He spoke calmly as he took FIJ back in time to the events of Wednesday, February 8, 2023, when kidnappers came to whisk the couple from their home in the dead of the night. He wouldn’t return until at least a month had gone by with them in captivity.
Haruna’s release was prefaced with starvation, exposure to class rankings in captivity, conflicts among terrorists and death – lots of it. These terrorists only released him to go raise money to meet their ransom demands and get his wife back.
