Khadijah Ibrahim, the woman abducted from Maiduguri and taken to Kano for the with plan to bomb the famous Kantin Kwari textile market, has explained how she escaped from her captors.
Khadijah, a mother of three, narrated her experience at the Kano State Government House when the state police commissioner took her to Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.
She said, “I was standing by the road in Maiduguri waiting for a bus to take me to hospital when my abductors arrived in a car and offered me a lift. I met another woman in the car, but shortly after I sat down, I lost consciousness and did not know anything till the car in which we were travelling developed technical problem in Kano.
“While they were trying to fix the car, I overheard one of my abductors seeking permission from his colleague to administer injection on the two of us, but the other guy said he should leave it until we reached Kano city. I woke up to realize that I was stripped of my clothes and strapped with a belt bearing what I immediately believed was an explosive device.
“I also noticed that the car was not the first one that took me from Maiduguri. The lady sitting by me was not the woman I met in the first car. The woman I met in the other car was older than the lady sitting beside me in the second car. One of my abductors told me that I was going to launch an attack on Kantin Kwari market. He said this was God’s mission and it was better for me to do it.”
She added that one of the men was guarding them in the car urged the driver to quickly fix the car so that they could reach the destination in time, but the driver said he could not fix it immediately.
She said it was while they were still trying to fix the car that she removed the explosive belt and jumped out of the car and started running for her life.
“I was just running. I didn’t know anywhere in Kano because I had never been to the state before. The two guys shouted after me and threatened to deal with me if I did not stop, but I ignored them and continued running. Finally they abandoned me and went back to the other girl that I left in the car so that they could stop her from escaping. I later met a good Samaritan after some minutes of roaming. The man stopped me and started asking questions.”
Khadijah said the man took her to the police station located in the same area, after which she was conveyed to the police command same night.
