Ex-Corps Member In Captivity Opts To Stay With Boko Haram

A former National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) member posted to Borno State, Abraham Amuta, who was abducted by Boko Haram, last year, has opted to remain with his insurgent abductors after a meeting with negotiators for his release.
Amuta, a batch ‘B’ 2019 corps member, who was serving in the Borno State Council for Arts and Culture, was abducted with a Living Faith Church Pastor, Moses Oyeleke by the Abubakar Shekau’s faction of Boko Haram on April 10, 2019, during a humanitarian trip to Chibok along Maiduguri-Gwoza road.
Though Oyeleke has since regained his freedom through the church’s negotiation with the aid of Kaltum Foundation since November 11, securing the freedom of Amuta was, however, delayed as the insurgents were said to have kept him back for further negotiations.
But what, however, shocked the negotiators was the decision of the Benue-born young man to stay back with the insurgents rather than “return to Nigeria”.
One of the local negotiators, Uumi Kalthum Rabiu, who is also the chairperson, Kalthum Foundation for Peace (KFP), a local NGO based in Maiduguri, said she was shocked at the decision of Amuta to remain with Boko Haram.
“I was shocked. I have never seen something like this since I started negotiations.
“The young man did not appear to be under stress but calm when he turned down the offer to be released.