By Christel Odili
The Nigerian Air Force says it has rescued and airlifted another batch of hostages held by the Boko Haram terrorists at Sambisa forest.
NAF’s Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Vice Marshall Adetokunbo Adesanya, made this known in a statement, he said, “Following concerted efforts by air and ground elements against Boko Haram Terrorists (BHTs) in the Sambisa Forest, which led to the capture of Camp Zairo, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has airlifted rescued hostages who had been in the captivity of the BHTs.
Adesanya,disclosed that the rescued hostages, included the aged, women, as well as children, were airlifted to the 105 Composite Group, Maiduguri by the NAF Agusta 109 helicopter.
According to him, “At the NAF Base in Maiduguri, the NAF Medical Team, which was on standby, conducted preliminary medical checks on the rescued hostages and also provided them with medical treatment prior to the process of integrating them into the larger society. “Furthermore, the rescued hostages, who were all looking tired and malnourished after the period of captivity, were fed by the NAF.
“The Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, has directed that those with serious medical cases be immediately placed on admission to ensure they were adequately cared for.
“This is in furtherance of the NAF’s resolute efforts at winning the ‘hearts and minds’ of the locals, as part of an overall campaign strategy”. The free medical services was part of NAF’s campaign strategy to win the ‘hearts and minds’ of the locals.
The statement maintained that the NAF would continue to airlift the rescued hostages and provide them with the needed initial succour.
It would be recalled that the NAF, under its current leadership, has been rendering humanitarian services to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the North East and other parts of the country as part of its corporate social responsibility. So far, over 300, 000 IDPs have benefited from NAF’s medical outreach programmes, which spread across the entire country.