Christian UNICEF nurse Alice Loksha, also known as Alice Nggadah, has escaped from the Islamist militants who held her captive for six-and-a-half years. She escaped on 24 October and on 15 November the military presented her to reporters at a military base in Maiduguri, capital of Borno state in northeast Nigeria.

Major General Kenneth Chigbu told reporters that Alice had managed to escape from a camp in Dogon Chukwu island in Lake Chad and that five days later she encountered Nigerian troops in the town of Geidam in Yobe state, Borno’s western neighbour.

Alice reportedly stated, “We want to thank God for the military. We pray that God will continue to strengthen them and give them victory over these terrorists.”

Another escaped hostage, Faina Ali Kelawos, who had been held by ISWAP for two years, appeared with Alice at the news conference. The two women have reportedly been handed over to the Borno state government for rehabilitation.

Abducted

Alice was working as a UNICEF nurse in a displacement camp of 60,000 people in Rann in Borno state when militants from Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) abducted her in a violent attack on 1 March 2018. Three UNICEF health workers and eight soldiers were killed in the attack.

The militants also abducted Muslim midwives Saifura Khorsa and Hauwa Liman, who were working for the International Committee of the Red Cross, deeming them apostates because they worked for the Red Cross. Business Day Nigeria reported that the militants released a video in which they said that the women “should have known the consequences of working for international agencies”.

On 17 September 2018 the ISWAP militants killed Saifura and said they would kill Alice, Hauwa and Christian schoolgirl Leah Sharibu, who had been abducted ten days before the Rann attack, if the Nigerian government did not pay ransoms. On 15 October they killed Hauwa and said they would keep Alice and Leah as “slaves for life” because the government had not paid ransoms. There has been no recent news of Leah, and her family has asked supporters to keep praying for her release.

Forced to marry ISWAP commanders

Alice was married with two children when she was abducted, but she was forced to marry two ISWAP commanders in captivity. Major General Kenneth Chigbu explained that the first, identified as Abu Omar, was killed in a gunfight with troops two years ago. He was the father of Alice’s son Mohammad, who escaped with her. After Abu Omar’s death Alice was forced to marry another ISWAP commander, Abu Simak, who was later banished by his fellow militants.

A UN source said Alice’s situation is complicated and explained, “We have a delicate situation on our hands because her husband had remarried after her kidnap, thinking she was already dead, and now here she is with another man’s child.” The source added that they were worried about the stigma Alice and Mohammad would face if she “eventually returns to her family, who may hardly welcome the child into their fold.”

An Open Doors field partner and trauma care worker commented, “We sadly see many stories such as Alice’s. There is a lot of shame and stigma around Christian women who were kidnapped and forced into marriage. When they finally escape or are released with their children, they do not just return to their previous lives. Not only do they sometimes face rejection from their husbands, but often their wider communities. Alice and her children will need ongoing emotional, physical and spiritual support if she is to be integrated back into society.”

(Business Day Nigeria, Channels TV, Church in Chains Prisoner Profiles, Open Doors, VOA News)