A nurse rescued after nearly six months in captivity has recounted how she helped 10 pregnant women deliver their babies without gloves while held by terrorists in Kwara State.

Amirah Salihu, a victim of the February 3 attack on Woro and Nuku communities in Kaiama Local Government Area, said she provided medical assistance to pregnant captives despite the harsh conditions in which they were held.

Salihu, daughter of Umar Salihu, the chief of Woro community, disclosed this in an interview aired on Channels Television’s *Politics Today* on Friday.

She said the abductors initially asked whether there was a nurse among the captives. Although she did not identify herself immediately, she later assisted women who went into labour.

“I just used to help pregnant women do delivery. I helped like 10 women for the delivery, without gloves. I used my hands to help them,” she said.

According to Salihu, the captives endured severe hunger and lived in poor conditions during their months in the forest.

She said they were initially given guinea corn mixed with salt and seasoning, but the quality and quantity of food later deteriorated.

“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.

Salihu also said the captives sometimes slept near or inside a river and were exposed to heavy rainfall.

“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,” she added.

She said the terrorists later discovered that she was a nurse and wanted her to remain with them, but she refused.

“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 said.

Salihu also recounted the killing of her two brothers during the attack.

“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,” she said.

She said her father had resisted the attackers’ efforts to enter Woro and had brought soldiers into the community for protection. However, the attackers returned after the soldiers had left.

“They just came to our house that day, suddenly, and people came to our house. The way I saw them, I knew that yes, they are Boko Haram, because the way they dressed, I knew that they are Boko Haram,” she said.

Salihu said the attackers told the captives they were acting in the name of Allah and opposed Nigeria’s constitutional and democratic system.

“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.

Asked whether the captives were subjected to rape or sexual assault, Salihu said there was no such incident.

“No, no case of rape or sexual assault, no,” she said.

The victims were among 176 women and children abducted during the February 3 attack on Woro and neighbouring Nuku communities.

They were freed on Wednesday after spending nearly six months in captivity.

The Kwara State Government said 13 children died while in captivity, while 12 other victims remained behind.

Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq received the rescued victims in Ilorin on Friday and commiserated with the families of those who died.

He also thanked President Bola Tinubu and the military leadership for their roles in the rescue operation.

The governor later visited a general hospital where 14 victims were receiving treatment. Three women who gave birth while in captivity were among those receiving medical care.