David Anyaele, Special Adviser to the Abia State Governor on Persons with Disabilities, has described the ordeal that left him permanently maimed during the civil war in Sierra Leone. Speaking in an interview with Channels Television, he gave a full account of how fighters from the Revolutionary United Front captured him and other Nigerians who had travelled to the country on business.
Anyaele explained that the rebels accused Nigerians of supporting the ECOMOG peacekeeping force and said they had been ordered to kill any Nigerian they found. He said he pleaded for his life and offered the group access to his home and warehouse in the hope that they would spare him. The request was rejected, and the rebels announced that he would undergo amputation.
He said he obeyed their instruction to place his left hand on a stool. A fighter struck it off with a machete, while others warned that his right hand would follow. In a final attempt to negotiate for his life, he told them he could pay any amount if they would leave his remaining hand. They refused, insisting they were carrying out directives. A child soldier threatened to shoot him if he resisted, and his right hand was severed.
Anyaele recalled that he cried out in pain and appealed to God when the group poured fuel on him and set him on fire. The assault ended only when their commander arrived. He said the commander told the fighters that he should be allowed to live so that he could return to Nigeria and tell the world what the rebels had endured.
Severely injured, Anyaele managed to crawl away from the scene until UN peacekeepers reached him. He was evacuated and treated, surviving an experience that shaped the direction of his life and later advocacy work.
Reflecting on the moment he pleaded with his captors, Anyaele said, “I told them they could not cut both my hands. I said any amount they wanted, I was willing to pay for them to leave my right hand for me.”
