A woman abducted from Ariko village in Kachia local government area (LGA) of Kaduna State during an Easter church service has reportedly delivered of a baby inside a bandits’ camp, as other captives continue to endure severe hardship nearly two months after their abduction.
The account was shared on Facebook yesterday by Reuben Buhari, a former media aide to the late governor Patrick Yakowa, based on the testimony of a woman who escaped from the camp after trekking through the bush for about three days.
According to the survivor, the pregnant captive went into labour about a week ago under extremely difficult conditions, with no access to medical care.
She said other women in captivity were forced to assist the delivery using whatever limited means were available.
She said the women, already weakened by hunger and poor living conditions, supported the delivery using whatever means were available in the camp.
The survivor further stated that there was no instrument provided to cut the umbilical cord, adding that after about an hour, one of the women eventually used her teeth to sever it.
She added that the captives pleaded for water to clean both mother and child, but the request was refused, saying that attempts to access a nearby stream for cleaning were also reportedly denied.
She said the mother, already weak from illness and prolonged starvation, initially had no breast milk due to severe malnutrition.
However, she noted that feeding became possible later when some milk eventually began to flow.
The survivor also recalled that when rainfall came later, captives used a wet cloth to clean the newborn in the absence of clean water.
She added that the baby was still alive five days after birth at the time she escaped, though the umbilical wound had not fully healed.
Beyond the childbirth incident, she described life in the camp as severely harsh, with widespread hunger and poor sanitary conditions affecting women and children.
She further alleged that children and women suffered from skin infections, while lice infestations were common.
