Rachael Habila was kidnapped from Buni Yadi, Yobe State and taken into captivity by the insurgents the day the Government College there was attacked leading to the killing of over 50 students.
Rachael said she did not know she will
survive in the camp because of her religious background as a
Christian. “When I joined them in the camp, about five or six of us that
were of the Christian faith were gathered in one place and directed
that we should either embrace Islam or be killed”, the 40-year-old
school teacher said.
“We had no option than to embrace Islam
and there and then we were provided with Hijab and an Islamic teacher
was attached to us. The basic teaching of Islam and how to perform the
five daily prayers was our major pre-occupation”.
“Along the line, two of our mates were
no longer seen and we continued to puzzle among ourselves that what
happened to them will surely happen to us. But, thank God, we are alive
in the IDPs camp today to tell our experience”.
She added that while converting
non-Muslims, one of the leaders of the sect whose responsibility it was
to do that will only tell you that your name has been changed with the
pronouncement of the Muslim name for you and those around him will
chorus ‘ ALLAHUAKBAR’, meaning God is great.
Racheal confessed that victims were not
arbitrarily tortured, except if one violated one rule or the other.
“But if an offense to them, which you might not know, is committed, the
punishment, which involves flogging, among others, is normally severe
and painstaking and, at times, it involves slaughtering of the people
depending on the magnitude of the offense to them”, she stated.
Curled from vanguard.
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