MY EXPERIENCE OF CAPTIVITY
I was driving from Mubi (Adamawa State, Nigeria) to Maiduguri (Borno State) for a JDPC workshop on June 1st, 2025, alongside 2 other staff who were attending the same workshop. 3 hours into the journey, shortly after the military checkpoint at Limankara, we ran into an explosive. Immediately after the explosive, we heard gunshots. Armed men came out of the roadside bushes shooting at us. In the confusion of the moment, I abandoned my vehicle on the road and ran backward. Other public transportation vehicles were also abandoned on the road, and the passengers and drivers ran in all directions. I ran for a few minutes toward the military checkpoint I had passed earlier on. Other vehicles who were far behind us made a u-turn and drove back into gunfire exchange between the military and the armed men.
The armed men came after us riding motorcycles. They approached me and asked me to stop, pointing a gun at me. I stopped and raised my hands up in surrender. They collected my 2 phones and requested the password. I showed them the unlock pattern. They took my wristwatch and searched my pockets, and took the cash on me. They commanded me to.climb the motorcycle. I climbed and sat between the rider and another armed man. They took me back to my vehicle, which was already vandalized. They ransacked the car and took all the items in it. The most important things taken from the vehicle were Luggage bags containing clothing, shoes, personal belongings, cash, Mass box and Roman Missal, router, 3 Laptops (mine and the 2 staff’s laptops) and laptop accessories(external1TB hard drive, wireless keyboard/mouse, 2 power banks) etc.
Upon reaching the vehicle, the armed 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. My eye was swollen and discharged liquid for 3 weeks.
One of the armed men drove my car into the bush to the foot of the Gwoza mountain alongside three other vehicles with captives in them. One of the armed men drove my car, and another armed man sat in the front seat while 2 captives and I sat in the rear seat. Other armed men sat on the boot/trunk of the vehicle while we drove to the foot of the mountain. At the foot of the mountain, the armed men had another gunfire exchange with the military, after which the vehicles were set ablaze.
To avoid being shot during the gun battle and to keep us secured, some of the armed men quickly took us up the mountain. That day, 14 of us were taken captives, others escaped, while others were killed (one of our staff was among those killed). While in captivity, I slept in the same room with 4 other captives with armed men on guard.
3 weeks into my captivity, there was a military operation with airstrikes and artillery bombardment of 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.
Upon my return to the Diocese after my release on July 21st, 2025, at around 5 p.m., the Catholic Diocese of Maiduguri took me to the hospital for a medical examination. I am
now on medication for various illnesses and will be using an eyeglass pending when I am due for eye surgery due to the injury I suffered upon capture.
I am grateful to all our partners, Maiduguri Diocesan priests/Religious/laity, Diocese of Fairbanks Alaska/Alaskan residence, friends, all well-wishers all over the world; and those who are instrumental for my release. I felt the effects of the prayers offered for me all over the world in the way the armed men (Jama’at Ahl al Sunna li Da’awa wal Jihad [JASDJ]) treated me subsequently.
I am above all, grateful to God for sparing my life through this frightening experience.
Fr Alphonsus Afina
Catholic Diocese of Maiduguri, Nigeria
