A Catholic priest has given a harrowing account of what it was like being held captive for 51 days by armed extremists in Nigeria.
Fr Alphonsus Afina was kidnapped by Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram on 1 June. He told Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that he nearly lost an eye through being viciously beaten. His belongings were stolen and his car torched before he was held captive with 14 other survivors in a remote mountain area.
Fr Afina was finally released on 21 July when he returned to his diocese in Maiduguri to receive medical care.
He described how he had been on his way to a workshop driving from Mubi to Maiduguri with two staff members when they passed a military checkpoint at Limankara.
Minutes later they heard gunshots: “Armed men came out of the roadside bushes shooting at us. In the confusion of the moment, I abandoned my vehicle and ran.”
The priest saw buses abandoned in the road, and people running in all directions as he and his staff ran back towards the checkpoint.
He added: “Other vehicles who were far behind us made a u-turn and drove back into gunfire between the military and the armed men.
“The armed men came after us riding motorcycles. They approached me and told me to stop, pointing a gun at me. I stopped and raised my hands up in surrender.”
The jihadists took his phones as well as his watch and money.
The extremists drove him back to his car which they looted.
Fr Afina said: “The men started beating me, and as a result, I sustained an eye injury with blood dripping from my face into my eye and running down my shoulder.”
They forced him into his car, and then the convoy including three other vehicles full of captives, drove into the bush.
At the foot of the Gwoza mountain there was another gun battle between the jihadists and Nigerian soldiers.
Armed men forced Fr Afina and their 13 other captives out of the cars, and set the cars on fire before taking survivors on foot up the mountain.
Fr Afina said: “That day 14 of us were taken captive. Others escaped, while others were killed – one of our staff were among those killed.”
While in captivity he slept in a room with four other captives with armed men on guard.
He added: “Three weeks into my captivity, there was a military operation with airstrikes and artillery bombardment on the location where we were being held.
“Ever since, I found it difficult to sleep because of the fear of being killed. This is still the situation as I write of this.”
Fr Afina who is still receiving medical care and waiting for an eye operation said he is grateful for people who have been praying for him and for all who secured his release:
“I felt the effects of the prayers offered for me all over the world in the way the armed men treated me subsequently.
“I am above all, grateful to God for sparing my life through this frightening experience.”