Gwoza escapee narrates ordeal; says women, girls trapped

A 38-year-old woman, who escaped from Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno State, Monday, said yesterday that hundreds of women kidnapped by Boko Haram sect were still trapped and kept in various houses in the town.
She said since the insurgents captured the town, many women and young girls, numbering over 100, had been relocated from Sambisa Forest, were brought in by the sect and kept in Gwoza.
Gwoza, about 250km south of Maiduguri, the state capital, was declared Islamic caliphate by Shekau immediately after taking over the town, with over 50 policemen still missing and scores of residents dead.
Narrating her ordeal to journalists in one of the Internally Displaced Persons Camps, IDPs, in Maiduguri, the escapee said they were kept in one of the beautiful houses in Gwoza, along with some young girls brought in from Sambisa Forest by the sect.

‘My escape’
On how she escaped from Gwoza, she said: “There was a loud bang, suspected to be a bomb explosion, near our house. It forced us to break the wall and escape, while two of the young girls died.
“Two others also sustained injuries during the blasts and shooting that engulfed the town. As I speak with you now, many of these young girls and women are still trapped in Gwoza.”
The woman said she later found herself before former governor of Adamawa State, Boni Haruna, in Madagali, who assisted her by calling her brother in Yola.
The mother of five noted that she was happy in Maiduguri, where she met her husband, who had earlier escaped, doing fine in one of the IDP camps, although she did not say anything about the whereabouts of her children.
She said: “I thank God for saving my life from the hands of Boko Haram. We have been under their control in the last three months; they kept us with many young girls.
“They gave us food every day, but they did not allow us to go out. Sometimes the leader will go round all the places and preach their ideology to us.”