Borno State Police Command has reunited two boys with their families after they escaped from Boko Haram captivity, where they had been held for nearly five years.
Gatekeepers News reports that this was revealed in a statement on Tuesday by the state police spokesperson Nahum Daso.
Daso noted that the boys identified as Ayuba Ishaku and Yakubu Haruna, both around 13 years old arrived at the Divisional Police Headquarters in Maiduguri on July 12, 2025.
The boys were abducted along with other women and children during a 2019 Boko Haram attack on Mandaragrau village in Biu Local Government Area.
They were later taken to insurgent strongholds in Mangari and Tumbun Mota, located in Kukawa LGA of Borno State.
While in captivity, the minors were forced to work as domestic aides and received training in maintaining firearms, the police said.
They escaped on the night of July 8, after months of secret planning. They took advantage of a moment when many of their captors had gone out on an operation and made their way through the bush, eventually reaching Maiduguri four days later.
They were placed under protective care at the ITE Division when found. The police, acting on the directive of Borno’s Commissioner of Police Naziru Abdulmajid, traced and contacted their families.
Ishaku Gaji, father of one of the boys, confirmed that they were abducted during the December 29, 2019 attack.
The children have now been handed over to the Borno State Ministry of Women Affairs for full psychological evaluation and support under the Borno Model, a government initiative that facilitates the rehabilitation and reintegration of survivors of terrorism.
Commending the boys for their bravery, CP Abdulmajid reaffirmed the police command’s dedication to safeguarding lives and collaborating with relevant agencies to tackle the state’s security challenges.
The command also urged the public to stay alert and report any suspicious activity to security authorities.
