Boko Haram starving captives, says US-based group …

A United States-based civil rights organisation, Empower54, has said that women and children who were abducted by members of the Boko Haram Islamic sect are currently facing starvation.

According to the founder of the organisation, Modupe Ozolua, insurgents in Sambisa forest have been starving their captives since the Federal Government cut off food supplies to the area, which is believed to be a Boko Haram stronghold.

Speaking with journalists in Abuja on her experience when her team visited the Internally Displaced Persons camp in Bama, Borno State, she said investigations revealed that rescued children and women were malnourished because of hunger.

Ozolua explained that due to food scarcity, the terrorists have only been giving food to its members engaged in the fight against Federal Government forces, leaving women and children to face acute starvation.

She said, “It was when we got to Bama that it was learnt that the extremely malnourished ones (children and women) were the people rescued from Sambisa forest by the Nigerian Army.

“Due to lack of food available to the terrorists, they only give food to the men, not women and children. This explains the extreme state of malnourishment when the army rescues them.”

Ozolua said plans were underway by Empower54 to set up four nutrition centres, adding that persons with critical cases could be evacuated from their IDP camps/communities for treatment.

The four centres would be located in various parts of Borno State which have been liberated by the Army.

She explained, “Empower54 recently had a meeting with the Army to review the map of Borno State and identify possible recaptured locations where Empower54 can establish emergency nutrition centres in various parts of Borno State.

“The organisation identifies this as critical because outside of food sent by the state to IDPs’ camps across the state, humanitarian aids are not being sent to communities outside of Maiduguri. All infrastructure, including hospitals outside of Maiduguri were destroyed by Boko Haram. These are contributing factors to the high rise in mortality rate in the State.

“Empower54 and the Nigerian Army have identified four strategic locations where we will set up nutrition centres and critical cases can be evacuated from their IDPs camps/communities to the centres for treatment. When recovered, the patients will be sent back to their communities.”