Kidnapped Living Faith pastor released, recounts ordeal in B’Haram camp

A pastor with the Living Faith Church, Moses Oyeleke who was
kidnapped by Boko Haram early April in Borno has recounted his
ordeal in the camp of the insurgents.

Oyeleke who was abducted alongside a corps member in the
southern part of Borno on April 10 by Boko Haram and released on
Sunday evening, said he was almost executed by the insurgents
during his nearly seven-month stay in his abductors’ camp.

“My survival is an act of God. I was almost executed by the Boko
Haram. They told us one day they were going to kill us but they
changed their mind later,” he told our correspondent shortly after
he and another teenage school girl, Ndagilaya Ibrahim Umar were
handed over to the Borno government by the Department of State
Service (DSS).

He, however, said the insurgents did not manhandle him. “They
didn’t manhandle me; they gave me foods but often times I didn’t
eat. I was always praying and fasting.

“They asked me to stop my prayers and be praying like them. I
told them it is the same prayers we are doing together to same God
and since it is the same God that owns all of us. So they left me,”
he explained.

He also said he was always attentive anytime the insurgents
preach to him and never argued with them or ask questions, a
development which made one of them developed interest in him.

He disclosed that the National Youth Service (NYSC) Corps member
abducted with him was still with the insurgents, calling for
prayers for his release too.

While recalling how he and the corps member were kidnapped by
Boko Haram, he disclosed that the incident occurred a few metres to
a deserted petrol station near Bama in the central part of
Borno.

“We were going to Chibok on that day and as we were approaching
the bridge, few metres away from a deserted petrol, the insurgents
ambushed us,” he explained. He said they were driven into Sambisa
bush where he spent most part of the seven months.

Fourteen years old Ndagilaya Ibrahim Umar, said she was 13 when
the insurgents abducted her. She was abducted in her village near
Lassa at Askira/Uba Local Government. She was a student at the
Government Science Secondary School, Askira Uba.

“I spent nine months with them (Boko Haram), ” she disclosed.
She said she was neither violated nor given to any of the
insurgents as was often the case with Boko Haram. “I saw some young
girls being given in marriage by Boko Haram,” she said.

The release was negotiated by some local non-governmental
organisations.

“We have been working hard to secure their release but thank God
today they have been set free. We went through processes before we
secured their release,” Kalthum Umar, founder of Kalthum Foundation
for Peace said.

Borno State deputy governor, Usman Kadafur, while receiving the
released victims commanded the security operatives and the local
NGOs.

Our correspondent learnt that the processes for securing the
release of the pastor and teenager was initiated by the state
government and ransom allegedly paid to Boko Haram.

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