Rescued Chibok Girl Meets Nigerian President; Second Schoolgirl Rescue Claim Disputed

It has been a little over 2 years since the world was rocked by the brazen Boko Haram kidnapping of over 200 Nigerian girls from their school in Chibok. Amina Ali, said to be the first of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls, was rescued on Tuesday, May 17, 2016. She met with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja two days later. (That report starts at 3:36 in this France24 video.)

On the same day that Buhari welcomed the 19-year-old Amina and her 4-month old baby, the Nigerian military reported that it had freed 97 females from from Boko Haram, and claimed that one of them, named Serah Luka, was one of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls. Chibok campaigners disputed that. Their information says that Luka was a Boko Haram kidnap victim but she was taken from her home, although she did attend the Chibok school.

In response, Army Brig. General Abubakar Rabe felt that the focus should not be placed on whether Luka is one of the Chibok girls, saying: “The important thing is that we are pursuing Boko Haram and rescuing human beings on a daily basis…” And, certainly, he is right. Amnesty International released a report in April 2015 that over 2,000 women had been kidnapped by Boko Haram since 2014 and many have been forced into sexual slavery and trained to fight, said Amnesty International on the first anniversary of the abduction of the Chibok school girls. “The 276 schoolgirls abducted from Chibok gained global attention with the help of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. But the missing schoolgirls are only a small proportion of the women, girls, young men and boys abducted by Boko Haram.”

It is being reported that Amina Ali returned with her “husband,” a member of Boko Haram, who also claims to have been kidnapped. He is the father of her 4-month old baby. The Daily Post Nigeria has published an article from members of the Chibok community, strongly objecting to Mohammad Hayyatu being referred to as Amina’s husband.