Lois Arzurfa, one of
the freed victims of the Kaduna train attack, says she is willing to put the
experience behind her.
In an interview with Punch on
Monday, Arzurfa recounted the ordeal she and 60 others faced in over six months
of captivity.
Speaking from a hospital bed in Kaduna, she narrated how the
terrorists attacked the train, firing indiscriminately while yelling and
ordering passengers to “go out”.
According to the 300-level student of Kaduna State University, they walked for miles that night before motorcycles arrived and took them away. Another four-day journey would lead them to the camp they would call home for 191 days.
“We walked a distance
that night before bikes came. Then, they took us to where we spent that night.
We journeyed for four days before we got to where they dropped us, that is
their main camp. We were there doing nothing, every day was just like
repetition of the previous day,” she said.
Arzurfa also recounted that medical doctors were brought in
to treat sick abductees.
“Anytime we are sick, they bring drugs that is just it. The
terrorists have medical doctors who come around to give medical care,” she
said.
Recall that Tukur Mamu, media consultant to Ahmad Gumi, the
popular Islamic cleric, said a top bandit commander had planned to marry
Arzurfa, the youngest victim of the train attack.
“Yes, it is true that one of the terrorists commanders
picked and proposed to marry me but it was just an offer and I rejected it.
Once you reject, they don’t force people,” the 21-year-old confirmed.
“I was not the only one the terrorists offered to marry.
They would just ask you, ‘I want to marry you, I want to keep you and I want
you to change your religion and convert to my religion.’ So, it is left for you
to either agree or reject.”
Arzurfa said she hoped to regain her freedom someday but she
didn’t expect it would come at the time it did.
“I was just praying,
waiting for the day I will leave the camp. The terrorists just came and asked
us to start packing our things,” she said.
“I never knew I was going to come out. Even if I was going
to come out, I knew it was going to take a while. So, I was just there praying
to God, waiting for the day I would leave the camp.
“The preparation took a week until the final day when they now
asked us to move and they handed us over to the presidential committee.
‘I BEAR NO GRUDGES’
Now that Arzurfa is out, she says she bears no grudges
against her violators and has forgiven them just as God instructs.
“Now that I am out, I have forgiven my abductors, as much as
God forgives our sins too. All what happened are in my past now, the terrorists
are in my past too, it is over now, I don’t have anything against them,” she
said.
On March 28, a train heading to Abuja from Kaduna was
attacked, resulting in killings, injuries and abductions.
A total of 61 persons were said to have been kidnapped
during the attack.
The kidnap victims were released at various intervals,
including 11 freed in June, seven in July, and 12 persons in August.
On October 5, the
last batch of 23 passengers in captivity regained their freedom.
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