Only few people would go through her experience and still come out alive to tell their story. But that is what Patricia ….., a 22-year-old Polytechnic student from Abia State did. Perhaps more than any other person in Borno State, Patricia, an ND 2 Accountancy student at Ramat Polytechnic saw firsthand the indescribable atrocities the Mohammed Yusuf-led Boko Haram religious sect wrought on the city of Maiduguri last month. She witnessed the brutal murder of three of her Christian brothers including her Pastor and was abducted to become a prisoner in the camp of the sect for three days. Ironically, it was through her heroic efforts that the death toll was minimized when soldiers invaded the camp of the religious sect. She told Ikechukwu Amaechi her riveting story.
Can you remember exactly what you were doing on the day of the crisis?
That day was a Sunday and our service in the Church didn’t close until about 4.30pm. So, the leader of Men’s Association asked me to stay back. He said I was going to help in serving them during their meeting by 6 pm. I promised to do that but I went somewhere and came back late around 7.30 pm.
When I came I served them the Malt drinks and meat pie I had already arranged. When I finished, it was about 8.30 pm and it was late for me to go home, so I decided to stay back.
So, where were you when the Boko Haram people came and what time did they come?
I was sleeping when our Assistant Pastor woke me up at about 11.30 pm asking if I was not hearing all the gunshots. I was sleeping in the sitting room in the Pastor’s House.
So, he told me not to sleep again, that the gunshots were getting worse. He said he thought there were two different sounds and he suspects one must be from members of the ‘Operation Flush’ while the other one was from the extremists.
So, I couldn’t sleep again and we were restless, pacing up and down, waiting for when the shooting would stop. We were all afraid. At a time the gunshots stopped but later, we started hearing noise. My Pastor said it seemed the people were still around and were trying to come into our compound.
I told him that we should try and escape but he said that it would be too dangerous to do that in the night. He said the Operation Flush people might still be around and could mistake us for members of Boko Haram and shoot. So we stayed back.
Then, there was a bomb blast and there was fire everywhere, we all ran out of the Pastor’s House, into the church. We saw our security man at the door and we asked him if he had seen what was happening. He said yes, that he was alert and we asked him why he didn’t come earlier to call us so that we would know what to do.
He said he didn’t want to go out too so that they will not kill him. And all of us went inside the church and locked all the doors and windows, so that they won’t enter.
We were there praying and asking God to come and help us. We were still praying when they started breaking the windows and we didn’t know what to do again. We were tiptoeing towards one of the doors leading into the compound while the gateman was at the other door. It was while we were doing that that they saw us and started shooting. One of us was wearing white cloth.
I couldn’t understand what they were saying which meant it was not Hausa language because I understand Hausa. It could be either Kanuri or Arabic. It was then that they broke the door and came in. When they came in they spoke in their language. I was standing near one of the doors with the security man and they asked him something in Kanuri because the man understood the language. And they were asking where is the gun, where is the gun. And the man told them that he didn’t have a gun and they said he was lying to them. And they gave him a sliding tackle and the man fell down, and they started matcheting him.
They butchered him. Even when the man had died, one of them said they should behead him to be sure that he was dead.
So, they severed his head but they did not remove it. It was just by his side. And they now pounced on our Assistant Pastor’s brother who was standing close to the altar. They also matched him and he died.
Before then, we were at the altar (myself and the other sister, Chidinma. We were two girls and three men in the Church) and the Pastor was holding on to Chidinma but they came, after slaughtering his brother, they came and gave him a very big cut on the head and on the shoulder and one of them stabbed him on the neck with a long dagger. It was then that he left Chidinma and ran out of the Church and some of them pursued him.
But some stayed behind and held unto us. They said we should go and show them where we kept our guns. We told them that the place was not our home, that we just came to pray. We begged them not to kill us but they said we should shut up, that the only thing that would save us is if we showed them where we kept our guns.
Because we were afraid they were going to kill us, we told them to follow us and search the house that if we see any gun, we would give to them.
They were pushing, kicking and slapping us as we went to the Pastor’s House. They turned the whole place upside down. After ransacking the whole building, there was no weapons. They said we should come out and they placed something which I later knew to be bombs in three places and I don’t know how they activated it and the whole place was blown up. There was smoke and fire everywhere.
After that, they took us out. It was raining heavily outside. They said we shouldn’t make any noise because we would be endangering our lives if we did.
They said that from then onwards, our fate was tied to their lives. That if they lived, we would live but if they died, we would also die.
They said they were ready for war and that they would take us to all the places they were going and because we were afraid to die, we couldn’t resist.
Didn’t the people they killed beg them for mercy?
They did. They were begging, on their knees but they said there was no mercy for men, that they were killing the men and that they would marry the women. That they would take us to Arab country and marry us.
So they took you to all the churches that they burnt?
Yes, we were barefooted and we were trekking.
How many were they?
I couldn’t count them. I was so afraid and so disoriented that I couldn’t have done that. But they were many. What I found out, though, was that they were in groups. If you get to one junction, you will see another group coming from the other direction but the people that attacked us were many.
How many churches did they burn while they were with you?
The group that abducted us burnt all the churches at Wulari. When we got to one junction, another group joined them and reported that they had finished their own work but I didn’t know what they did there.
While you were being taken from one place to the other, did you meet any soldier or policemen on the road?
None.
What was going on in your mind while all these were happening?
Because of the way they slaughtered my Pastor and the two other people, I thought I was not going to survive. I was just telling God that whatever sin I had committed, he should pardon me and have pity on my soul.
What did the Pastor say before they attacked him or was he just standing there too afraid to talk?
When they inflicted the deep cut on his head, Pastor said: Lord I know I am coming to you but what about these children …? He was still talking when they cut him again and he ran away.
Did you notice them kill in any other church?
No. It seems our church was the second they attacked after the EYN. So by the time we got to other places, the people had run away, so it was only the building and cars that they burnt.
So, what happened after?
At about 5 am, when they finished their operation, we begged them to allow us to go but they said they would not set us free because we now belonged to them or when Mohammed Yusuf asked them to release us. They said they would take us to their camp to see Mohammed Yusuf.
When we got to their camp, one of them said they should pour petrol on us and burn us but another one intervened and said they should not do that yet. That they should ask us questions first.
When we got inside they asked us why we were abusing Islam. We told them that we never abused Islam. They asked us why we are Christians. And we told them that we are Christians because we were born into Christian families. They asked us if we were prepared to be Moslems and we told them that we didn’t know how to do that.
They told us that the only thing that can save us is if we got converted to Islam, otherwise they would kill us. We told them that if they could teach us, then we would become Moslems.
They said we should speak after them and they were saying certain things which I supposed was their prayer and we were repeating after them. After that, they said that we now belonged to them. That they would no longer kill us if we cooperate with them.
They said they would teach us what life is all about, that our parents didn’t teach us anything. At the end of the day, they took us into one room and locked us up (myself and Chidinma). We were only two.
Were there other people at the camp when you got there?
We were the first people on that Monday morning to be brought there. It was later in the evening that they brought two other women and we were four.
It was on Tuesday that they started bringing people. One of the women said her husband and son were killed and they poured petrol on her to set her ablaze but the lighter was faulty. That was when one of them said they shouldn’t kill her. They should rather take her to their camp.
He said that they should not kill women because women belong to them.
But early Tuesday morning, they brought four of us outside and they said if we didn’t want to die, we should start washing with the detergent (Omo) that was there. Some of their men had been shot and killed by this time. When we got to the camp, we saw about 20 corpses of their members. They now removed their white clothes and asked us to wash them until it was whiter than snow or they would kill us.
It was then that one of their Ogas came out to give orders that they should go into town and snatch taxis and motorcycles and that anybody they see escaping the crisis, they should bring the person to the camp. He told them that what they should do is to shout Barracks!, Barracks!! And if they person enters, they should bring him to the camp.
He said the Igbos have a lot of sense and that if they don’t behave that way, they would be escaping. That they should bring as many as they can. They went into town and about two hours later they started bringing in many men and women. All of them were crying and the buses, taxis and Okadas were coming in regularly. Some of the women said the Okada people told them that they would help when they were running away but they didn’t know they were Boko Haram members and they brought them straight to the camp.
Around 10 pm they gathered all of us and said that the only thing that would save us was if we agreed to be Muslims.
They said those who were prepared to be Moslems should go to the right side while those who don’t want should go to the left side. They said even if they don’t kill anybody who refuses to be a Moslem, such a person will be their slave for life. And they said such a person will not even be a slave in Nigeria but in an Arab country.
I asked them if they would allow us to live our normal lives by going back to school if we agreed to be Moslems? They said no. They were querying why we go to school. They said that a woman going to school is only suffering herself. They said women are created to enjoy their lives and to be enjoyed; that women are supposed to be in the house to be given food every morning so that they can serve men.
They said for the grown up women, they will marry us, accommodate us and give us what we want that we don’t have any problem – no school, no work.
They said that God created every human being to be a Moslem and that they want to enforce it so that Nigeria will be better. They said women wear trousers and go about naked and asked us if that was good. They said as for the men, they had agreed to be Moslems and they will turn them to fighters for the cause of Islam. We asked them why they were doing what they were doing. I told them that being a Moslem or Christian should be by choice and not force as it is in the Eastern part of Nigeria where I come from, but they said no.
Almost everybody said they wanted to be Moslems. They now went inside and brought some white clothes which they had already sown and gave to us to wear.
Was there any initiation rites?
Yes, they said we should say their prayers and after that, they will take you to one part of the camp where a woman will bath you and give you a new name.
Was there anybody that refused to be converted?
Yes, there was one woman that said no.
What happened to her?
They said she should stay at one corner but because people were many, by the time they finished it started raining and they took everybody inside.
Did you see anybody being killed in the camp?
I didn’t see anybody being killed but I noticed that if there was a disagreement, some people were asked to go inside.
Did you see those people again?
No.
So, how did you come out of the place?
By Tuesday, we pretended to be friends with them. We told them that we had accepted to be Moslems, to be their wives but that they should let us go.
They said if we agree to be their wives, that they would take us to Arab countries. On Wednesday, their leader came to say that now we had agreed to be Moslems, that they wanted to show us how they would take care of us. Some people were coming back with bags of rice, loaves of bread etc., and they parked them in one room. And they told us that if we agree to follow them that we would never lack that they would take care of us. They said they would be feeding and clothing us well.
They said to show us how well they would treat us, that they would give us back our handsets that they seized. Unfortunately, none of them was working when they returned them. I guess they might have put it inside water.
But there was one woman who hid her phone and they did not seize it. When they released ours, she now brought it out. I told the woman that we had to find a way of telling people outside that we were alive and I used her phone to call one of our Christian brothers and I told him it was Patricia and that he should call me back. He shouted because they had already concluded that we were dead.
Everybody started calling. My Pastor called and I told him we were alive. He asked where we were and I told him. He said they would make every effort to ensure we came out alive. He asked whether we would be released if they came themselves and I said no, because according to them, they said they could only release a woman if her husband came.
But even at that some men that came for their wives were captured. They were not released. I now told my Pastor that they should not come, that we were praying for the will of God to be done. They said they would contact security agents and inform them that there were captives at the camp. There were many men and women.
So, my pastor told me that they would tell the security operatives to talk to me so that they would get a clear picture of where we were so that they won’t harm us when they invade the place.
Later, a man who identified him as an “Operation Flush” operative called and asked if I was Patricia and I said y
es. He said they were coming to rescue us and asked where we were. I said we were at their camp. He said they were coming to bomb the place and that we should pray because it was going to be a battle so that we would not be caught in a crossfire. He said if we come out alive, we should thank God but that they would do everything possible to reduce casualty of innocent people.
He said as they were coming, they would be communicating with me to know where exactly we were.
Where were you. Didn’t they see you making the calls?
No, we were locked right inside. So, I was talking to them and until they got to the camp and they told me they were there and we stopped communicating.
What happened next?
The soldiers started shooting. It was war. The gunshots and bombardment were deafening. The women were shouting and when we wanted to come out, all of them will say go inside. Bullets were entering the place we were, that was when we forced ourselves out. When we came out, we saw that many of them had been killed some had run away. There were corpses everywhere.
Many were also wounded. There was blood everywhere. The wounded held their hands, legs, heads, etc, and they told us to run for our lives.
But their fence was so high that we couldn’t climb but some of their men were scaling the fence. Then some of them now broke a part of the fence and everybody was escaping through there.
When we were running, they asked us to follow. And we couldn’t say No, because they were armed. So, we said yes to everything they said but I told my sister that we will follow them with style. While pretending to be running with them, we were diverting. Some women and men were following them but we were diverting until they lost sight of us and we escaped to the barracks.
How has this experience changed your life?
Fundamentally! I thought I was dead. That I will never live again. It is true that I have given my life to Christ but for me, being alive today is like a rebirth. I went to the land of the dead and came back. I challenged God. I told Him that I learnt He saved Daniel in the Lion’s Den in the olden days and that if He can save me in my own time, I will serve Him for life with body, spirit and soul. Since I came out, I have been trying to keep that promise.
How does this make you feel about your country?
Nigeria is in trouble because after this incident I heard the man was killed and some people are angry that he was killed.
When I heard it, I said where are we headed in this country? Nobody is safe.
Somebody that caused the death of more than 2000 people? He deserved death.
Are your parents alive?
My father is dead but my mother is live. She is in my village in Abia.
Haven’t they asked you to come back home?
She has asked me to come back. I am finishing this year. If not for the strike, I would have finished. I don’t intend to stay here but if I leave now, I will start all over again, going to look for admission, I will be rounding up by December. That is why I am still here. I will wait but they are calling me to come back.
Did you see anybody killed?
No. I didn’t. But some people will be taking inside and at times, you will hear gunshots. One woman used to say that they were executing somebody. Also, when we are pressed and they bring us outside to ease ourselves, you will see corpses everywhere.
How many people were in the room?
We were about 60.
You had space to sit down?
There was none
Were you fed?
The first day, we did not eat. We said if we were to die, we should better die hungry On the second day they even brought one fruit for us but people were afraid that they were going to poison us. Later, we noticed that they were bringing in television, fridges, etc. Then there were two cars that came with bread. It was from a bakery we know and they offloaded the bread in our presence. So, it was the bread and water that we ate.
Do you wake up now thinking that your experience cannot possibly be true?
Yes. Even now, I pinch myself to know if I am the person because I never believed I would live again.
After your escape, how did you return to the Church?
We trekked to the Barracks. We were tired and the people there gave us water. They asked us what happened and we explained to them. They said we were now safe and we saw many Igbos. We saw one of our elders in the Church, Elder Friday Ogueke, passing by and we held him. He gave us food, water and mat to lie down. The next day when the crisis was easing off, he now took us to our house and we took our bath.
