UNIMAID lecturers spend 69 days in Boko Haram’s captivity

Four lecturers of the University of Maiduguri, Borno State, who were abducted by Boko Haram in the Magumeri area of Borno State during an oil exploration have spent 69 days in captivity.

The Defence Heaquarters, Abuja, said the military was still making efforts to rescue the lecturers.

The Director, Defence Information, Maj. Gen. John Enenche, said on Sunday that “intelligence was still being processed to bring the victims back and alive.”

The lecturers had been abducted on Tuesday, July 25.

No fewer than 48 persons were killed by Boko Haram during the exploration to the Lake Chad Basin area on that Tuesday.

Sources at the University of Maiduguri, Borno State, where the corpses were brought, had revealed that the deceased included 18 soldiers, 15 civilian Joint Task Force members, 5 workers of the university and four drivers with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

One of the abducted lecturers, identified as Dr Solomon Yusuf, had on September 5, reportedly written a letter to his wife, Hannatu, from the terrorists’ den which was obtained by an online medium, Sahara Reporters. He lamented their anguish in captivity and urged the Federal Government to free them from the terrorists.

But the DHQ spokesman, Enenche, said the military was being careful, saying Boko Haram might use the lecturers as human shields.

He said, “Efforts are on. When we get information, we convert it to intelligence. The ultimate is that the Federal Government and the military are doing as much as possible to ensure that these people come out alive.”