The 31-year-old noted that she was scared about her pregnancy and the fate of her unborn baby
Nigerian military personnel at the Giwa Barracks detention Centre in Borno State have been helping pregnant wives of detained Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists to deliver babies.
The detention facility has also been providing the children of their detainees with the necessary care for their physical growth, PRNigeria reports.
A PRNigeria reporter who visited the barracks recently observed that the detention centre prioritises giving necessary ante-natal support to pregnant Boko Haram fighters' wives brought to the facility.
It was learnt that the health facility at the barracks had recently assisted two women with their childbirth, and also provided their babies with necessary feeding and clothing provisions.
One of the wives of a Boko Haram suspect who is still at large, Aisha Ibrahim, gave birth to her seven-month-old son, Moammadu in May. But it was learnt that she did not conceive at the detention facility. Moammadu's pregnancy was about six-month-old when his mother was captured, and brought to the Joint Investigation Centre, JIC, at the Giwa barracks.
The 31-year-old noted that she was scared about her pregnancy and the fate of her unborn baby when she joined the women already in the military centre late last year.
“But to my surprise, the military officers who are guarding us took care of me and another woman who was also pregnant, at that time.
“They took very good care of us, and offered us the very best of the ante-natal treatment we deserve as expectant mothers, then.
“They gave us routine drugs and consistently monitored our situations, prior to our delivery. They were also there for us when we were ready to put to bed.
“It was the females among the soldiers here (at the JIC detention centre) that handled our childbirth, together with some private healthcare officials at the clinic in this barracks.
“They took us to the 7 Division Medical Hospital, where we both delivered our babies successfully, at different periods. But the other person who gave birth in this place (the detention facility) has been freed.
“I am the only one remaining here now, together with my little boy. But there are some other women with their little grown-up children, who are being detained too,” she told PRNigeria.
Aisha described the military personnel attending to them and their children as ‘very soft and tender’.
She said the military authorities at Giwa barracks provided nursing mothers with clothes, soaps, and other basic needs.
“With them, everyone of us here now feels a sense of belonging. They always assist us and buy us good, good things. We don’t have any problem feeding,” she said.
Aisha, however, prayed that the military authorities will soon free them and allow them to return to their ancestral communities.
"They gave us routine drugs and consistently monitored our situations, prior to our delivery. They were also there for us when we were ready to put to bed.
"It was the females among the soldiers here (at the JIC detention centre) that handled our childbirth, together with some private healthcare officials at the clinic in this our barracks,” she said.
Corroborating what Aisha said, Yanna Madu Kawu, another female who has been held at the barrack since 2017 with her husband (a ‘repentant’ terrorist) said the staff at their detention home always provide necessary support and care for the pregnant wives of arrested terrorists.
Since her arrival five years ago, Kawu, who hails from Konduga Local Government Area of the State, told PRNigeria that the military health officials at the barracks have assisted three pregnant women brought to their centre, to deliver successfully.
The 20-year-old, who already has a daughter, said: "They don't show stigma to wives and daughters of the terrorists arrested and brought here. They even support the pregnant ones among us, not showing concern about the fact that some fathers of the unborn children are Boko Haram fighters.
"Immediately any pregnant woman affiliated to Boko Haram is arrested and brought here, they will enrol her for ante-natal. To the best of my knowledge, they have never advised any expectant woman to terminate her pregnancy, regardless of how their pregnancy was gotten."
In separate chats with the newspaper, the Commander 7 Division Medical Services and Hospital, Lt. Col. Adeniyi Ogunsakin, and Sergeant Caesar Ojoko, Representative of 7 Division Medical Hospital at the Giwa barracks health clinic for inmates, said as military health workers, they are always concerned about the condition of the pregnant wives of terrorists and their daughters arrested by troops.