A young woman (name withheld) has given a harrowing first-hand account of systematic rape, beatings, and degrading treatment she endured during 20 days in a bandits’ camp, saying sexual violence against female captives was routine and unrelenting throughout her ordeal.
Speaking in Hausa during an interview with MAIBIREDI TV, the survivor said she and fellow captives were shackled with iron rods upon arrival and held in a forest hut, where they were flogged, forced to lie on bare ground, made to sit immobile for hours, and subjected to repeated interrogations.
“They beat us. It wasn’t just the beatings; they subjected us to various forms of humiliation,” she said.
She confirmed that sexual assault of women in the camp was not an isolated occurrence but a continuous pattern. “Wallahi, yes, absolutely,” she said when asked directly.
“Ever since we arrived, it was a continuous thing, not just once.” The survivor said she was the only group held in that section of the camp during her captivity.
Her freedom came only after a ransom payment. The bandits initially demanded N10 million.
“I don’t know if the amount was later negotiated down, but the money was ultimately delivered,” she said.
“Everything they do to a person there makes your heart ache whenever you recall it,” she added.
The account offers a rare first-hand window into conditions inside kidnappers’ enclaves in northern Nigeria, where victims face systematic physical and sexual violence during prolonged captivity for ransom.
(The Whistler)