Officials Should Note Role of Hunters, Vigilantes, and Efforts by Victims
By Luka Binniyat and Suleman Ayuba
(Maiduguri) — Two Christian women whom Nigerian troops claimed to have rescued from an Islamists terrorists’ enclave May 15, 2026, in Borno State have disputed the military’s account, insisting that they escaped on their own after months in captivity.
One of the women, 25-year-old Comfort Sunday, who is nursing a two-month-old baby delivered while in Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) captivity, spoke exclusively to our correspondent in Bama, Borno State.
According to her, she comes from Pumpum village, while the other woman, Rose Adamu, 20, hails from Kwang village, both in Gwoza County in the southern part of Borno State around the Mandara Mountains, Northeast Nigeria.
Sunday, a devout Baptist Church goer said that they were kidnapped separately on the same day while working on their farms on November 15, 2025.
She had been married for less than a year and was already three months pregnant, she told TruthNigeria..
“We suffered greatly in captivity because we refused to convert to Islam,” she said.
She said they risked their lives trying to flee from the terrorists camp twice before finally escaping from the terrorists’ camp around the Yuwe area of Gwoza Local Government Area on May 13, 2026. That was their third attempt, she said.
She told TruthNigeria that after each of the first two failed escape attempts, they went through unimaginable torture, coming close to death, yet she did not lose the pregnancy.
“If they had caught us this last time, they would have killed us immediately,” she said.
“It was not soldiers that rescued us,” Comfort said quietly while cradling her baby.
“We were the ones that walked to their post after Jesus helped us to escape” she said.
The account sharply contradicts the official military version released to the media on May 15, 2026.
In a statement issued by Lt. Sani Abubakar Muhammad, spokesman of the 21 Special Armoured Brigade in Bama, the Nigerian Army claimed that, “the women were rescued during an offensive operation conducted under the leadership of Brigadier General Tosin Ayoola.” The statement was widely circulated by Nigerian news outlets.
However, the women’s testimony has revived longstanding concerns over repeated claims by Nigerian security agencies regarding “rescues” later challenged by victims, witnesses, or local communities.
Security watchers note that while troops have genuinely rescued many abductees during operations against Boko Haram and ISWAP, there have also been several disputed cases in which escapees were later publicly presented as military rescue victims.
One such controversy followed the “rescue” of abducted worshippers in Kurmin Wali, Kajuru County, Kaduna State, earlier this year, as reported by Channels Television.
Community leaders and church officials disclosed that several captives had escaped on their own or fled into nearby villages before authorities later announced that some of the victims had been rescued. The incident also sparked disputes between police, church leaders, and local residents over the true account of what happened.
Another disputed account emerged after the abduction of students during the Papiri school kidnapping in Niger State. While authorities announced that many students had been “recovered,” church leaders and parents insisted that dozens escaped on their own during the confusion inside the forest hideout.
The Papiri school kidnapping was carried out on November 21, 2025, when heavily armed gunmen attacked St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri community, Agwara area of Niger State, Central Nigeria. The attackers abducted 315 persons, including 303 students and 12 staff members. The victims were held for about one month in forest camps before their gradual release. Fifty pupils escaped shortly after the abduction, while the remaining captives were freed in batches by December 21, 2025. No group officially claimed responsibility, though authorities blamed armed bandits, according to AP reports among others.
In the aftermath of the Chibok schoolgirls’ abduction, several girls who eventually returned narrated that they escaped independently rather than through direct military operations.
Amina Ali Nkeki, one of the first Chibok schoolgirls to reappear in 2016, was reportedly found by local vigilantes and members of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) near the fringes of Sambisa Forest before she was later handed over to Nigerian troops, according to a Guardian report at the time.
Subsequent reports revealed conflicting narratives between community sources and official military accounts over who actually located her first.
TruthNigeria similarly reported that another Chibok schoolgirl, Lydia Simon, who resurfaced in May 2024 with three children born in captivity, had actually “escaped to troops” in the Mandara Mountains bordering Cameroon.
The wording differed significantly from some later reports portraying the incident as a conventional military rescue operation.
The April 14, 2014 abduction of 276 schoolgirls from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, by Boko Haram drew worldwide outrage and became one of Africa’s most infamous terror incidents. Wikipedia notes that the global “Bring Back Our Girls” campaign attracted support from world leaders, celebrities, and international human rights organizations.
Critics argue that government statements often omit the role of local hunters, vigilantes, and escape efforts by the victims themselves.
A security source in Kaduna, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, admitted that in conflict zones, escapees are sometimes processed and recorded as “rescued” after eventually reaching military formations.
“Once victims emerge from terrorist territories and are received by troops, the operation may officially be described as a rescue,” the source said.
But for Comfort Sunday, the distinction matters deeply.
“We suffered too much in that place with no rescue at sight,” she said.
“As of now, we are just glad to be free,” she said.
“We thank the Lord Jesus Christ for the miraculous escape,” she said.
Luka Binniyat and Suleman Ayuba write for TruthNigeria from Kaduna and Maiduguri respectively.
