Military rescues 158 victims held captive by Boko Haram in Yobe

About 158 Women and children abducted by Boko Haram militants  from Katarko village in Yobe have
been set free and subsequently reunited with loved ones
in Damaturu, the Yobe capital as reported by NAN.

The victims were set free by the group after after pressures from the ongoing bombardments from the military against their strongholds in the Northeast. The captives were held in captivity for three weeks before being released.

Ahmed Goniri, the state Commissioner for Justice and Chairman of the State Committee on Rehabilitation of Victims of Insurgency, said this while addressing journalists 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,” Mr. Goniri said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) had earlier reported 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.
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 relief materials, Mr.
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 there captivity.

........NAN