Serah Luka – a daughter of a pastor – was rescued around 11.00am, on Thursday during military’s mop up operations against the remnants of a ferocious Islamic death cult, Boko Haram. This is the beginning of the return of more of the girls whose parents have passed through enormous and unbearable trauma.
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The unusual discrepancy raises the question of whether Nigerian authorities are trying to shoehorn the second girl’s recovery into the narrow narrative of the #BringBackOurGirls social media campaign which has captured the world’s attention since the 276 girls were kidnapped by Boko Haram at gunpoint from their high school dormitory in northeastern Nigeria two years ago. Late on Thursday, the army said an operation in Damboa at around 11am local time (10:00 GMT) led to the rescue of almost 100 hostages who included the second Chibok schoolgirl.
He said the government would make it a priority that Amina, who showed Buhari her four-month old baby, can go back to school.
Hours later, the army said a girl from a second rescued group – Serah Luka from Madagali, a town in Adamawa, the state next to Borno – had also come from the Chibok school and had been among those seized in April 2014.
Yusuf reminded Nigerians who had rejoiced with them when the Chibok girls were rescued to continue in one way or another to remind government that 218 Chibok school girls are still in the hands of their abductors waiting patiently to be rescued.
The list has two other young women sharing the surname given by the military and the rescued girl may have been visiting older sisters at the school the night of the kidnapping, said Bitrus. No girl in Nigeria should be put through the brutality of forced marriage.
Previous military attempts to storm Sambisa forest have met with mixed success, with soldiers making significant in-roads but failing to finish off the Islamist militants after running into bands of well-armed guerrillas, mines and booby traps.
LAGOS, May 20 (Xinhua) – Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday met the rescued Chibok schoolgirl, Amina Ali-Nkeki, at the Presidential Villa in the capital Abuja.
Nigeria’s military, which has reversed significant territorial gains by Boko Haram in the last 15 months, has been targeting the forest since late April to clear it of remaining rebels.
The organization commended the government security forces and affected communities for the effort leading to the rescue of Amina and others kidnapped by the insurgents.
Most of the other abducted girls and young women are still being held in the north-eastern Sambisa forest, where Boko Haram is known to have secret camps, according to the young woman.
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Amina Ali was rescued from Boko Haram on May 18, 2016.
