How Boko Haram treated Christians, women in captivity - Diya

– It was a sour tale from Nuhu Diya concerning victimss experiences in the hands of Boko Haram members after their capture – He revealed the number of Christians killed in a day for refusing to convert to Islam and what happened to the others who converted – He also described how innocent women and young females were treated and why some of them were killed by the insurgents For refusing to convert to Islam, Boko Haram members killed 466 people when they invaded Ashigashiya, Ngoshe and Gava villages around Gwoza local government area of Borno state.

They also married to themselves 218 innocent girls and women among the over 1000 people held hostage when they attacked. These were part of the narration of Nuhu Diya, a victim of insurgency in the north-eastern part of Nigeria who related how the villages were raided by the terrorists in a Daily Post report. Diya, one of the about 3,000 families that fled when the Nigerian military engaged the insurgents on Tuesday, said in Maiduguri that he and others were held hostage in Bayan Dutse.

Apart from those killed, the report said more than 192 died from hunger while the about 620 who agreed to convert to Islam were allowed to go about and source for their food. “We went about to look for food unlike others who were trapped in Ashigashiya before the Cameroonian soldiers came to save them. “We ran to Maiduguri when the militants took over Gwoza and turned it to their national headquarters.

“Six months after the election, government asked us to return home that our areas had been liberated. When we eventually got home about four months ago, we did not know that we were going into trap. “At first we also thought that the area was truly liberated until one month after our arrival. “The Boko Haram (members) were all along in the mountains area and one evening they came down and pursued the soldiers and took control.

“They asked Christians to go to one side and Muslims to the other side. They asked us if we wanted to convert and some of us refused. “We that accepted to convert were asked to join with other Muslims and the rest of them, about 466 when we counted, were shot and killed before our very eyes. “They also asked our girls who were between 15 and 30 to marry them. Those who refused were killed while those who accepted took husbands from amongst them. Many of our people are still trap in the mountains and there is no food.” “I was never a Muslim in my heart. I know that I did not get converted out of my own free will. Those that refused to be converted were shot death before our eyes. “I could have been killed too. Maybe I was given opportunity to repent,” he said adding that he ran to Maiduguri to avoid hunger and being caught in the middle of the battle between the insurgents and the military. Recently, a team of local vigilante in Damboa in Borno state led by Sarkin Yaki Ali Gwoza intercepted some persons along Njaba road, south of Damboa town while on patrol. The vigilantes have always supported the military in the fight against insurgnecy.