Abducted Chibok Schoolgirl Found

An abducted Chibok schoolgirl from Northeast Nigeria was found on Tuesday, May 17, 2016, at the fringes of the Sambisa Forest in the Kulakaisa area. Amina Ali Darsha Nkeki, from Mbalala, was one of the 219 schoolgirls abducted over two years ago by the Islamic extremist group, Boko Haram, in their fight against Western influence. Amina is also the first girl to have been found from the group of abductees. The schoolgirls were just some of the many Christian and Muslim targets involved in Boko Haram’s campaign against the Nigerian government that has been waged for several years.

Chibok community leader, Tsambido Hosea Abana, tweeted Wednesday morning after the rescue that civilian vigilantes discovered the 19-year-old girl during a routine patrol, who was apparently wandering the forest. Aboku Gaji, leader of the Civilian Joint Task Force (JTF)—a group set up to help fight Boko Haram—recognized her after she was brought to his house by other members of the JTF. Mohammed Hayatu, a man who says he is Amina’s husband and is a suspected to be a member of Boko Haram, was apparently accompanying her. Hayatu has since been arrested and taken to the regional capital, Maiduguri.

An Al Jazeera article quotes Lawan Zannah, secretary of the association of parents of missing Chibok girls, as saying, “She was carrying a baby but I do not know whether it is a boy or girl.”

Vigilante groups, such as JTF, which sprang up in 2013, play a significant part in helping to bring Boko Haram down.

However, according to a BBC article, the Chairman of the Chibok community in Abuja said,

“She was saying…all the Chibok girls are still there in the Sambisa except six of them that have already died.”

According to the military, although Amina was reunited with her mother, she and her baby were handed over to the authorities soon after for medical attention. Her father was said to have died during her captivity.

Another 24 of the captured girls are from Amina’s hometown of Mbalala.

Julia Ho

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