Boko Haram Survivor Recounts Horrible Experience - Alhaji Mustapha Oyeyinka

The friend who invited them for his wedding had made arrangement for a mini bus that will convey them to and from Kaduna. The journey was going fine until they got to Kaduna when they ran into some men dressed in military regalia who were conducting a stop and search. When it got to their turn, they were asked to get down and their driver asked them to relax, as it was a routine.

“I later discovered that the soldiers were not wearing boots and some were smoking. I waved that observation aside since it was in a bush. I assumed that they were tired of wearing boots for hours. Suddenly, there were gunshots; people started lying down on the floor while some were shouting Jesus! Jesus! In a split of seconds, they shot all those who they heard shouting Jesus. It was then that it dawned on me that these were no robbers,” he said.


Not long after, a truck emerged from the bush and all those who survived the shooting, about 50 of them were asked to step into the truck. They later blindfolded everyone and after driving for a while, they stopped and asked them to get down from the truck as the blindfolds were removed.

They found themselves in a camp built with mini halls which later turned out to be their detention room and they were told in Hausa by their captors they were members of Boko Haram. Their phones were collected and they were all asked strip down.

“They asked if there is anyone related to the president or any influential Nigerian. Those who said yes were immediately slaughtered and their bodies taken away. Those who claimed that they were Christians were also killed if they failed to renounce their religion. I told them that I am a practising Muslim and they asked me if I was ready to kill for Allah. I kept quiet and the leader of the group said that with time I would beg to join them,” he said.

According to him, they would come every day to carry all the women out to be raped and those who did not come back were slaughtered because they resisted.

Mustapha said: “It was terrible knowing that every day different kind of men will forcefully have sex with your wife and you cannot do anything about it. It was terrible, I couldn’t help my wife but I was consoled that she was still alive.”

On how they managed to escape, he said on that fateful day, May 8, 2011, the camp had remained deserted because the insurgents had gone out to hunt and one of the guards forgot to lock their cell. So they waited till everywhere was really quiet and took off into the bush. At a point, they met a Fulani woman who asked them to follow her and she took them to her village head where they were given food and clothes and arrangement for a vehicle to take them to Kaduna town was made. From there they took the next bus down to Lagos.

Ever since they regained their freedom, they have remained in hiding in Lagos and refused to tell their story because they were too terrified. He only decided to open up now because he has made up his mind to return to his base in Spain in Europe where he expects a miracle to regain his sight which he lost while in the camp of his abductors.

The Emir of Gwoza, Muhammed Timta and a district head in the town, Hakimi Ibrahim who went missing after an attack on the town by Boko Haram reportedly escaped, alongside hundreds of other residents trapped on the mountains.