Testimony: They ate the heads and hearts of men from my village

18-year-old Nafissa Sadjo, originally from the region of the Far North of Cameroon was married when she was 14, to Salihou, a 30-year-old Nigerian, resident of the Ngoza village in Nigeria.

It was in this village, where she lived for almost 4 years with her husband, that the men of Abubakar Shekau attacked in the early morning of the feast of Tabaski 2014.

Fortunately she was spared and later managed to escape to take refuge with her family in Domayo district of Maroua-Cameroon, where she lived for nearly 10 months.

On Thursday, May 28, thanks to the support of the NGO that runs Mariviza, which helps displaced persons and victims of the atrocities of Boko Haram, KOACI, met her and she narrated how Abubakar Shekau and his men attacked her village and killed its inhabitants and decapitated some of them and cooked their organs before eating them.

"It all started in the early morning of the feast of Tabaski in 2014. The Boko Haram fighters entered our village by firing in the air. They announced at the market place that they intended to kill all men and save the women as their wives. Everyone went into hiding when the first men were killed with a gun and others slaughtered with knives, machetes or axes. My husband and his neighbor sought refuge in the ceiling of our home while other men escaped," said Nafissa Sadjo in the Hausa language.

"The members of Boko Haram settled in the village of Ngoza for several days while the headless bodies remained abandoned. The heads hung on the walls of the chiefdom where the elements of Boko Haram had decided to occupy. The bodies were left on the roads with a stench, and women were forced to bury them. I informed my husband and his neighbor of the presence of Boko Haram elements, who broke and looted shops abandoned by the fugitives to give women the content, in the context of marriage. They remained hidden for nearly a week under the ceiling. Our neighbor came down from the ceiling to the toilet and he was heard coughing and capturd. They slaughtered him and decapitated him by ripping his heart out under my eyes to punish me for protecting him," added the young lady.

18 women were then chosen in the village to cook the killed men, says our interlocutor. "They gathered in bags the heads and hearts and under their command, we braised the hearts and then shaved the heads. We cut into chunks the severed heads of men and boiled them. They forbade us to eat what we cooked and served us bushmeat. Those surveilling us served the meal and took some in pots to their leaders including Shekau Abubakar."

Nafissa says she finally escaped at 1 am when she found that the guard was distracted. She said she later learned of her husband's death despite having no proof.

More than 13 000 people have been killed by Boko Haram.