A witness for the Department of State Services (DSS) on Thursday told the Federal High Court in Abuja how members of the Ansaru terrorist group dehumanised and tortured her and 45 others during their 56 days in captivity.
The witness and others were kidnapped on May 15 during the abduction of school pupils and teachers in Oriire Local Government of Oyo State.
Identified as “AAA” for security reasons, she told Justice Salim Ibrahim while being led in evidence by the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the witness testified as 1st prosecution witness (PW-1).
“On May 15, armed men invaded our schools, carted away students and teachers and took us into the forest and we were there for 56 days,” she said.
She said on the fateful day, “school activities had just started when we heard gunshots.”
She said seven teachers and 39 students were kidnapped.
She said the armed men invaded their schools on motorcycles, shooting sporadically and preventing the students and teachers from escaping.
She said the attackers, who arrived on about 12 motorcycles, took the victims into the bush, with each motorcycle reportedly carrying about four people.
She added that a Toyota car belonging to one of the teachers was also used to transport some of the victims.
She said that although the vehicle is meant for five occupants, about 10 people were crammed into the back seat while four persons were squeezed into the front seat.
She said the vehicle was later abandoned and they were forced to treck long distance into the bush.
The withess told the court that the victims were moved through six different locations during their captivity, barefooted and forced to sleep on grass under heavy rain and intense sunshine before they were eventually rescued by security forces.
She said the situation was particularly distressing because children as young as one and a half years old, including pupils from pre-nursery schools, were among those held captive during the period.
The witness said that after they were taken into the bush, the leader of the kidnappers addressed them and informed them that they were being held to negotiate the release of members of the Ansaru group, rather than for ransom.
She further revealed that on two occasions, two of the teachers among the captives, were taken away and killed, with the kidnappers claiming that the government was not serious about meeting their demands.
The witness told the court that the kidnappers used the mobile phones they seized from them to contact their relatives and government officials to negotiate their demands.
She described the conditions in captivity as extremely harsh, saying they suffered severe hunger and and were left thirsty for most of the time.
According to her, during water rationing, about four victims had to share a single cup of water.
She said besides rationing, the water provided by the kidnappers was stenchy that they had to close their eyes before drinking it.
“We had to drink the dirty water just to survive,” she said.
She said that initially, the captives were fed a combination of rice, salt and palm oil.
The witness said that when the salt ran out, they were given rice and palm oil, and eventually only plain white rice after they ran out of palm oil.
She also stated that the kidnappers flogged some of the young children to prevent them from struggling for food, adding that meals were served to the victims in plastic containers.
When she was asked how food and other logistics were being supplied into the bush, the witness said she did not know.
She said throughout the 56 days in captivity, they had no opportunity to bathe or wash their clothes, leaving them extremely dirty by the time they were rescued.
When Oyedepo asked her if the terrorists were friendly during the period of captivity, the witness responded: “Friendly? In what sense sir?”
She told the court that their rescue occured when they were at the sixth camp, where security forces engaged the kidnappers in a gun battle before successfully freeing them.
Justice Ibrahim adjourned the matter until Sept. 18 for the defendants’ lawyer, Bala Dakum, to cross-examine the witness.
The judge also ordered that the defendants should remain in the custody of the DSS throughout the duration of the trial.