We face severe security challenges, and fear dominates our lives. When the bandits attack, we flee. We were kidnapped along with people from Sabongari and Gangara villages and taken to their hideout.
After some peaceful days, people began to sleep in their homes instead of the bush. However, the bandits returned and started shooting sporadically. They killed a breastfeeding mother and left her child stranded. On our way to their hideout, another woman gave birth, and they left her stranded, but luckily, one of them returned and helped her, putting her on a motorcycle to a neighbouring village. The villagers took care of her.
They took us to their hideout in Dumburum forest, where they placed us under the sun and wouldn’t allow us to face them. One of us lost her daughter, and they assigned her to bury her in a hole. We were over a hundred, and met some people there, but they gave us only one jerrican of water in a week. They didn’t give us food; instead, they assigned us to eat leaves when we were hungry.
Honestly, they only tied up the men, not the women. We were living in separate places, but they assigned some of them to guard us at night. We were released after our relatives paid a ransom. I spent about two months there, and my relatives paid about five hundred thousand naira.
There were instances of gender-based violence; they raped a beautiful girl every day because they wanted her. The girl was deeply traumatised and was also released after her ransom was paid.
A week before they kidnapped us, they came and burned our houses to ashes, leaving us hopeless. Just a week later, we heard the sound of sporadic gunshots at night. All my efforts to escape were unsuccessful. They also burned about five cars in the village.
After our release, we went to the hospital for a medical checkup, and luckily, we’re safe. My husband has secured a place for us to stay here in Katsina. Life here isn’t easy, being migrants and all. But I’m not hoping to return to our village anytime soon, remembering that the bandits are still there.
As narrated by: Nafisa Abubakar (Ƴangayya, Jibia, Katsina).
This snippet is published as part of the series, What We Lost to the Bandits.
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