How I fought Boko Haram to regain my freedom — Abducted traveller

By BLESSING TUNOH 

A survivor of a suspected Boko Haram abduction has described how he fought to regain his freedom.

Travelers along the Maiduguri-Damaturu expressway were ambushed on Monday, at around noon by unknown men dressed in military camouflage.

The attack occurred in Auno village where vehicles conveying passengers were hijacked and driven off by the suspected insurgents, survivors said.

“I am a graduate and was on my way to Damaturu, the Yobe State Capital to submit my application for the recently advertised DSS recruitment when we were abducted,” a survivor, who preferred to remain anonymous, told a Channels TV correspondent on Tuesday.

“On our way, I engaged one of the armed terrorists in the bus in physical combat and pushed him down from the moving vehicle, we fell off together.

“As an Ex-Jam, immediately we fell from the moving vehicle, I wrestled the gun from the terrorist who was badly hurt from the fall.

“The other terrorist who was driving the bus was also attacked by some young men in the bus, the vehicle hit a tree and stopped.

“That was how we and some few others were able to escape the kidnap. This was around 1 pm, in broad daylight. We eventually found our way and headed to Jakana!

“The number of passenger vehicles hijacked by the terrorists were more than 15 in number.

“Women, Children, families were all abducted yesterday. The terrorists had a filled day yesterday.

“The reason we escaped from the others is that the terrorist who drove our vehicle took a different route from the convoy of the other kidnapped vehicles and were left far behind.”

Meanwhile, the Borno State Command of the Nigerian Police said it has recovered a cache of arms at the crime scene, where the travelers were reportedly abducted.

The Commissioner of Police Mohammed Ndatsu, in a news conference on Tuesday in Maiduguri, displayed the recovered arms before journalists.

“Our men at Auno discovered that there was cut off in the movement of vehicles from Damaturu to Maiduguri,” the Commissioner said. “That gave them the feeling that maybe something is happening. They went on the road and got a hint that there was an attack, but according to what we heard, they said the military was moving and they were ambushed.

“They moved for assistance and rescue but on the way, they saw a vehicle on fire and another camo hilly upside down and that attracted their attention and they went towards it. Away from it, there were some arms and ammunition which were recovered and there was a corpse. That corpse we wouldn’t know if it was as a result of the exchange of fire because he wasn’t dressed in any uniform.”

According to the police, it is not clear if the arms belong to any of the security agencies or the Boko Haram insurgents.

Investigation to determine that is ongoing.

Weapons recovered include; eight AK47, AA 2, one MG, two magazines with 51 rounds, 270 rounds of ammunition of MG, and 4 spare barrel. (Channels TV)