Trending Now

Chibok girl rescued: Amina, the first of the kidnapped Nigerian School Girls taken by Boko Haram is found

Posted on May 18, 2016 by konniemoments in News // 0 Comments

Popular Stories

Nigerian high school girl, Amina Ali Nkeki abducted from school at 17 by terrorist group, Boko Haram
Rescued, 2 years later pregnant with baby and ‘husband
Found wandering at edge of forest, hungry and filthy
First of the 219 Chibok school girls kidnapped by Boko Haram to be freed after the two years in captivity
Reunited with mother. Father died while she was in captivity
276 girls preparing for science exams were kidnapped, dozens escaped in the first few hours, but 219 remaind captive

160413122344-16-chibok-girls-exlarge-169Nigeria’s Boko Haram terrorist network kidnapped 219 ‘Chibok’ high school girls as they prepared for their science exams, two years ago.

Nigerian soldiers have found one of the schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram from Chibok, making her the first freed from the Islamic extremists since the mass kidnapping more than two years ago. Her uncle describes her as pregnant and traumatized but otherwise fine.
Amina Ali Nkeki is the first of the 219 Chibok girls to escape from her captors since their abduction grabbed worldwide attention more than two years ago.
She was found wandering in the forest, uncle Yakubu Nkeki told The Associated Press. He said the 19-year-old — she was 17 when she was abducted — was brought to Chibok Tuesday night for her identity to be verified and to be reunited with her mother. Her father died while she was held captive, he said.
He said the soldiers then took the young woman away, apparently to a military camp in the town of Damboa.

Amina, her baby and ‘husband’

When Amina Ali Nkeki was kidnapped by the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram more than two years ago, she was a mere schoolgirl.
On Tuesday night, she apparently wandered out of a forest, asking for help — accompanied now by a “husband” and a baby.
She is the first of the more than 200 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram to be freed after the two years in captivity, Nigerian military officials and a witness say.

Military officials and locals gave different accounts of how she was liberated. Nigeria’s army said she was rescued by army troops, but a witness told CNN the girl wandered out of the Sambisa Forest in the northeast of the country along with her child and a man.
The Sambisa Forest, believed to be the terrorist group’s stronghold, has long been the suspected location of the girls. As many as 276 of them were kidnapped at gunpoint from their boarding school in Chibok in Borno, northeast Nigeria, on April 14, 2014.
At least 57 girls were able to escape soon after their abduction, but more than 200 of them remain missing.

Haunted by loss: Chibok parents share their stories

 Chibok parents share their stories

 

The witness, Aboku Gaji, said he was participating in a nightly patrol on the edge of the Sambisa Forest with the Civilian Joint Task Force, a vigilante group set up to help fight Boko Haram, when the girl and some companions wandered out around 7 p.m.
He said her name was Amina Ali Nkeki, and he recognized her as one of the missing schoolgirls, although she looked different and was in poor physical condition, as were the baby and man with her.
“Their bodies didn’t look good,” Gaji said. “They had had no bath and were in a dirty condition.”
The young woman was part of a group asking for help, including a man who identified himself as her husband and the father of her baby, Gaji said.
The man said he had been kidnapped by Boko Haram from the town of Mubi, taken to Sambisa Forest and married to Nkeki.
Gaji and his commander took the girl to her house, in the settlement of Mbalala, where she was reunited with her mother, Binta Ali, Gaji said.

The Nigerian government and army disputed the account, giving a different name for the girl and saying she was rescued by government troops, although they confirmed that they were referring to the same incident.

Taken girls of Nigeria
Gallery of the ‘Chibok Girls’
Col. Sani Kukasheka Usman, acting director of Army Public Relations, said the girl’s name was Falmata Mbalala, and she had been rescued by government troops at Baale near Damboa — an account echoed by the country’s Information Minister Lai Mohammad.
But Manasseh Allan, a Chibok youth leader who also confirmed the girl’s rescue, said she was brought in clutching a baby she gave birth to in the hands of Boko Haram militants.
“She was initially taken to her school’s vice principal who identified her as Aisha Ali from Mbalala village which is her name in the school register,” Allan said.
“Her name was mistakenly given the Chibok community leaders as Amina Ali,” Allan said. “The real name is Aisha Ali.”
He said it was not uncommon for children to have familiar family names as well as formal names they use in school.
“Falmata could be what she is called at home,” Allan said.
A distant relative of the girl, Yakubu Nkeki, said his wife had spoken to the mother of the young woman and confirmed that they had been reunited.
“It’s a joyful time for me,” said Nkeki, who is the father of another of the abducted girls. He said the rescued girl would be taken to the state capital, Maiduguri, on Thursday
nigeria-kidnapped-girls
Shekarau, Boko haram Leader

Other Chibok girls may also have been rescued by soldiers hunting down Boko Haram in the remote northeastern Sambisa Forest on Tuesday night, said Chibok community leader Pogu Bitrus. He said he is working with officials to establish their identities.
Boko Haram Islamic extremists stormed and firebombed the Government Girls Secondary School at Chibok on April 14, 2014, and seized 276 girls who were preparing to write science exams. Dozens escaped in the first hours, but 219 remained missing.
The inability of Nigeria’s government and military to rescue them led, in part, to the electoral defeat of President Goodluck Jonathan last year.
It’s not known how many thousands of girls, boys and young women have been kidnapped by Boko Haram in a nearly 7-year-old insurgency that has killed some 20,000 people and spread across Nigeria’s borders.

Nigeria’s military has reported freeing thousands this year as they have forced the extremists from towns and into strongholds in the sprawling Sambisa Forest. Boko Haram has turned to soft targets using suicide bombers.

Let us know what you think of this article. Like? Dislike? Funny? Interesting? Cool?  Drop us a line in the comment box or join us on facebook and twitter to help us give you a better reading experience

Leave a Reply

Copyright © 2023

%d bloggers like this: