A Nigerian schoolboy who was abducted by gunmen, believed to be radicalised Fulani herders, has escaped after more than two years of captivity.
Treasure Ayuba, aged 14 (see photo), is the last of over 100 students to find freedom after they were kidnapped from their dormitory at Bethel Baptist High School in Damishi, Kaduna State in 2021. Their fate mirrors that of the 276 now-famous Chibok girls, who were abducted in Nigeria in 2014, but over 100 of them remain missing. Kidnappings for ransom are now endemic across northern Nigeria.
While his schoolmates were released in groups as ransom demands were paid, Treasure, who was just 12 when he was taken, was kept hostage.
A Christian pastor, whose name is being withheld for security reasons, said: ‘Treasure somehow managed to sneak away and escape from the extremists. He walked at night and hid during the day. Eventually he found hunters who took him to his hometown and from there he was able to find his way home.
‘Christians from the Nigerian Baptist Convention, which runs Bethel Baptist High School, were forced to negotiate with the terrorists over ransom demands. To see their children released, parents along with the convention have had to pay the very same people who abducted their children the equivalent of more than £250,000.
‘When the Convention first started negotiating with the extremists over ransom payments, they thought that all the children would be released. However, to the anguish of the parents, the children were only released in batches, with extremists then demanding more money to release the next batch of students.’
Speaking exclusively to Evangelicals Now, Henrietta Blyth, CEO of Open Doors UK and Ireland, said: ‘On their return home after being abducted and after living in captivity, students are obviously very traumatised. They have often witnessed people being killed and may have experienced violence themselves. In many cases the students are made to walk long hours from camp to camp, sleeping outside and surviving mainly on leaves and fruit they picked in the bushes. Nigeria is number six on the World Watch List of most dangerous countries for Christians. However, if violence was the only criteria for Open Doors research, Nigeria would be number one.’
