Nearly seven years after her abduction, UNICEF employee and nurse, Alice Ngaddah has been released from Boko Haram camp, unconfirmed reports say.
She may have been freed from captivity for nearly five days, a source in the know, confirmed Friday morning. He pleaded anonymity, because he is not authorised to speak for the family for now.
Mrs. Ngaddah’s release would be a source of relief for her husband and two children, Binyiyan, now aged seven years, and her now 12 years old brother, Jigai Rufus, who have not set eyes on her for 79 months.
Recall that the then al Barnawi faction of the Boko Haram terrorist group in 2018 executed the second of three female humanitarian workers it seized in March stating that the remaining Alice, and school girl, Leah Sharibu, will be slaves for the rest of their lives.
Graphic details of Leah Sharibu’s life in last six years; protesters demand her release in Kaduna
A midwife, Hauwa Mohammed Liman, 25, who was working for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and studied Health Education at Maiduguri University in Borno State, was seized on 1 March, along with fellow ICRC worker and midwife Saifura Husseini Ahmed, 25, and nurse, Alice Loksha Ngaddah, a UNICEF employee.
Their abduction followed an attack in Rann, Borno state, in which two humanitarian workers from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), one from the ICRC and another from UNICEF, were murdered.
According to reports then, the video depicting her execution that was sent to the online newspaper, The Cable, Ms Liman’s hands were tied and she was dressed in a white hijab with a crescent symbol on it.
Ms Liman was forced to kneel before being shot at close range.
In a statement explaining the execution, the terrorists said both she and Ms Ahmed were considered apostate as they were deemed to have abandoned their faith by working for the Red Cross: “for us there is no difference between the Red Cross and UNICEF. If we see them we kill the apostate among them, men or women, and choose to kill or keep the infidels as slaves, men or women.”
The terrorists also declared that from that day onwards that Alice and Leah were their slaves and that “it is now lawful for us to do whatever we want with them.”
Leah, now 21 years old, was the sole student among 110 girls abducted from their school in Dapchi, Yobe state. Her abductors allegedly refused to free her because she refused to renounce her Christian faith as some others did.
On 18 September Boko Haram released a video in which Ms Ahmed, also a mother of two, was made to kneel and then executed with a shot to the back of her head. In the video an unidentified terrorist complained that the Nigerian government had ignored written and audio messages, and described the murder as“a message of blood.” He also threatened her colleagues and Ms Sharibu with a similar fate if unspecified demands were not met within a month.
Ms Liman was executed upon the expiry of the terrorists’ deadline. Twenty four hours earlier the ICRC had issued an urgent public appeal for the Nigerian Government and communities and individuals with influence to secure the release of their colleagues. Mamadou Sow, head of the ICRC’s Operations in the Lake Chad Basin said: “These women were providing essential and life-saving services to thousands of people, displaced and resident alike. All they sought to do was to help.”
Mrs. Alice Ngaddah’s family members have continuallt pleaded for her release.
Everyday.ng reported one of such pleas in 2020 where the family head and guardian to Alice, Rufus Birma Nggaddah, stated: “Come (Sunday), 1st March, 2020, our beloved daughter, Mrs. Alice Loksha Nggada will be two years in captivity in the hands of Boko Haram/ Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP).
“She was abducted on 1st March, 2018 when the terrorists attacked Rann IDP Camp in Kala Balge Local Government Area, Borno State, while working as a Nurse with the UNICEF.
“While trying to help the vulnerable, she became the most vulnerable. Appeals were made to the Federal Government of Nigeria, under the able leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, to help and facilitate the release of our daughter, Mrs. Alice Loksha Nggada.
“Our consolation is that our daughter is alive and we look forward to her release in no distant time.
“In fact, we are appealing to President Muhammadu Buhari to use his God-given position as President to effect the release of our daughter on 1st March, 2020 being the 2nd anniversary of our daughter in captivity.
“Her two children who have not seen or heard from their mother in the past two years are equally calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to use his excellent office to effect the release of their mother. They are looking forward to meeting and embracing their mother come (Sunday), 1st March, 2020.
“The Nggadah family will ever be grateful to Mr. President for his fatherly support during this two-year trying period
We sincerely thank President Muhammadu Buhari and look forward to receiving our daughter on the 2nd anniversary of her abduction.
But Buhari and his administration failed the family.
Another letter by her brother-in-law, Mshelia Shettima, reads: “We the family of Alice Loksha Nggadah write to the Nigerian Government, the United States of America, the United Nation and the World at large to please come together as a nation to facilitate the release of our beloved daughter….
“Indeed we are going through trauma as a result of her still being in the hands of her (abductor), we are pleading to the United Nations to please come to her rescue. We are helpless please and please do something (for) the sake of her little children she left behind: a one year old daughter (who is) now three years old; and a boy of above five years old (who is) now (about) eight years old.
“They cry day and night to see their mother or hear her voice but to no avail. They are still hoping and expecting today, tomorrow, next tomorrow, next week, next year… thinking that their mother will be back some day. It really (confuses) us when the children ask us where their mother is. ‘Is she coming back? Would she come back one day?’ (These are some of the questions we have no answers to).
“Even Alice is not aware that her mother and (one of) her grandmothers too died the same year she was abducted because of the traumatic situation they went through.”
“Alice Loksha Nggada Is a brilliant, hardworking, very dedicated, caring and God-fearing mother. We are pleading with the Nigerian security agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the United Nation to please intervene, please we, the family, need Alice Loksha Nggadah back safely. Thank you and God bless Nigeria.”
Her grandmother, Kaka L. Ngaddah, from who much of the latest information regarding Alice has been kept away, adds her own voice: “You cannot imagine how traumatic this experience has been for us since her abduction. It has caused us irreplaceable loss in the family. With Ist March approaching, the pain and trauma remains fresh in our hearts. At this point, we are only looking up to God to intervene and bring our Alice, Leah and all who have been in this captivity. We love you, we are hopeful that we would meet again”.
