Meet The Rescued Chibok Girl as Army Says a Second Girl Rescued

Second Chibok girl found as Nigeria's Buhari meets first rescued student

Ola Awonyi with Bukar Hussain in Maiduguri


Amina Ali with her young baby was rescued by Nigerian authorities on May 18, 2016 after being one of 219 girls abducted by Boko Haram gunmen in 2014 (AFP Photo/)

Abuja, Nigeria (AFP) - A second Chibok schoolgirl has been rescued, Nigeria's army said Thursday, after President Muhammadu Buhari met the first student to be found and voiced fresh hope for the recovery of the more than 200 others still being held.

In a brief statement just hours after Buhari's meeting with student Amina Ali in the capital, Abuja, army spokesman Colonel Sani Usman "confirmed the rescue of another Chibok girl this evening".

Two years ago when the girls were first taken there were all sorts of reports of girls being rescued coming from the army. Virtually all of them were completely false. You will forgive me if I have some doubt about the veracity of this report, but it's possible that they are just embarrassed by Amina being found by civilian volunteers rather than the army.

On the other hand, what was done under the hapless Jonathon Goodluck bears little relation to what is happening under Buhari. Not that he has been able to rid Nigeria of it 'fantastic corruption', to quote David Cameron, but at least the military is doing something. 

We should certainly be praying for these girls and the soldier's attempts to rescue them.

Further details on the release would be given "soon", he added.



Amina, 19, who now has an infant daughter, was discovered by civilian vigilantes and troops on Tuesday and flew with her mother Binta to meet the president at his official Aso Rock residence.

Buhari said he was "delighted" at her release and the government was doing "all it can to rescue the remaining Chibok girls", who were abducted from the remote town in northeast Nigeria on April 14, 2014.


Amina and baby meet President Buhari

"Amina's rescue gives us new hope, and offers a unique opportunity for vital information," he said.

A total of 276 girls were kidnapped from the Government Girls Secondary School. Fifty-seven escaped in the hours that followed.

The abduction provoked global outrage and brought worldwide attention to the conflict but until Amina and the latest student were found, there were few indications about their possible release.

- Reunion -


She must be in some level of shock

Community leaders said Amina told her relatives at a brief reunion at the family home in Mbalala, near Chibok, that most of the girls were still in the Sambisa Forest area of Borno state but six had died.

Nigeria's military has been conducting operations in the former game reserve for weeks in the hope of flushing out militants and destroying Islamist camps in the sprawling semi-desert scrubland.

Borno state governor Kashim Shettima said on Thursday soldiers were "already moving into the forest aggressively".

"I am an eternal optimist. I believe that in the coming days and weeks more recoveries will be made," he told reporters.

The abducted girls have long been thought to have been taken to the forest. Satellite imagery provided by the United States and Britain reportedly identified the location of some of the students.

But Nigeria's military failed to act on the intelligence, Britain's former ambassador to Nigeria has claimed.

Former president Goodluck Jonathan's delayed response to the abduction and overall handling of the insurgency was seen as a major factor in his election defeat to Buhari last year.

- Medical treatment -

Amina was brought to the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, by air force helicopter from Damboa 90 kilometres (56 miles) away along with her four-month-old baby and a man she said was her husband.

In photographs released by the military, she appeared tired and thin, as she held the baby, named Safiya, in her arms and apparently received medical care.

In another, her purported husband, identified by the army as "suspected Boko Haram terrorist" Mohammed Hayatu, cradled the infant on a hospital bed.

The army said he was "undergoing further investigation at (the) Joint Intelligence Centre" and was being "well-treated".

Boko Haram has used kidnapping as a weapon of war in the conflict, which has killed at least 20,000 people, forced 2.6 million from their homes and devastated the northeast since 2009.

Young women and girls have been forced to marry rebel fighters, becoming sex slaves and even suicide bombers in the group's campaign for a hardline Islamic state.

Men and boys have also been seized and forcibly conscripted.


Don't know if this man sitting beside her is the one she called her husband

- Victim support -

Boko Haram is thought to have kidnapped several thousand women and young girls and there have been calls for Nigeria to do more to support former hostages.

Buhari said Amina would receive "the best care the Nigerian government can afford" and disclosed she had undergone medical tests for about five hours and met Unicef trauma experts.

The resumption of her education would be "a priority", he added. "Every girl has the right to an education and a life choice," he said.

Francisca Vigaud-Walsh, from Refugees International (RI) said such specialised care was not available to most former hostages.

"On the contrary there is a seemingly arbitrary and haphazard approach to dealing with these women and girls," she said.

RI and other agencies have highlighted in particular the lack of facilities for victims of sexual violence and psychological services.

Northern Nigeria, which is largely Muslim, is deeply conservative and kidnap victims have reportedly been shunned on their return home.

UN rights experts said in January there was an "urgent and pressing need for effective measures to address stigma, ostracism and rejection of women and children" because of their abduction.

ANALYSIS - Why Has Nigeria Failed to Rescue the Chibok Schoolgirls From Boko Haram?

Five hundred women and children were taken just months after the abduction in Chibok.

Video emerges showing 15 girls wearing Islamic headscarves 2 years after kidnapping by militant group

By Anna Cunningham, for CBC News 


Yana Galang, the mother of Rifkatu Galang, one of the schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram two years ago, looks down during an interview in Lagos on April 5, 2016. (Stefan Heunis/AFP/Getty)

When 276 Nigerian girls went to school two years ago, 219 of them never came home.

The human rights group Amnesty International has called for the Nigerian government to "do all it lawfully can to bring an end to the agony of the parents of the Chibok girls and all those abducted."

M.K. Ibrahim, country director of Amnesty International Nigeria, says: "Few of us can begin to comprehend the suffering of parents who have not seen their daughters for two years."

The simple facts of what happened in the remote town of Chibok in northeast Nigeria remain astonishing, but nothing is simple about the insurgency by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram that has blighted the region since 2009, leaving more than 20,000 dead and 2.6 million homeless.

Today the sign outside what remains of the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok has the word "girls" blanked out. The school is a shell of broken walls and empty window frames.

One chalkboard remains, indicating what was once a classroom, as the rest succumbs to nature. Dormitory bed frames gather dust in the long grass.

A short "proof of life" video has emerged and been reviewed by the Nigerian government. It shows 15 of the schoolgirls, their heads covered and wearing long Islamic headscarves.

Each is asked to identify herself and explain that they were taken from the school in Chibok. One girl says they are speaking on Dec. 25, 2015, and pointedly says they are "all well."


A slipper lies amid the rubble of the demolished dormitories of the Government Girls Secondary School in northeastern Nigeria on March 25, 2016. (Stefan Heunis/AFP/Getty)

It's the first time any of the girls have been seen since Boko Haram released a video in May 2014.

In one respect, it gives much-longed-for hope to the families of the kidnapped girls, although it comes too late for some. Sixteen fathers and two mothers have reportedly died or been killed since the abductions.

Stalemate remains

But it also leaves many questions for the Nigerian authorities — even if it shows at least some of the Chibok girls are alive.

Where are they and why have they not been rescued? Are the Nigerian authorities negotiating with Boko Haram for their release?

Africa security specialist Ryan Cummings told the CBC he believes the girls have not yet been found because "any attempt at rescuing them risks ending in a bloodbath," an outcome he says the Nigerian government cannot risk "given ongoing criticisms of their response to the insurgency."

Cummings says negotiation is the only feasible means, but he believes a stalemate remains because any talks would "likely include ransom payments and the release of detained commanders, both of which would strengthen Boko Haram's position in the conflict."


Yana Galang, the mother of Rifkatu Galang, one of the abducted Chibok girls, holds a phone with a picture of her daughter during an interview in Lagos on April 5, 2016. (Stefan Heunis/AFP/Getty)

Brokering a deal for the release of the girls in exchange for Boko Haram prisoners was ruled out by the previous government of President Goodluck Jonathan.

When current President Muhammadu Buhari took power last May, he said: "We cannot claim to have defeated Boko Haram without rescuing the Chibok girls and all other innocent persons held hostage by insurgents."

So, has the approach changed? No one in authority will give a direct answer as to whether a deal is in the cards.

Two years ago, barely a day passed without a report of a Boko Haram attack. Tactics changed after five years of hit-and-run attacks. Territory was seized, towns and villages overrun, hostages were taken. Soon, the rebels declared the creation of a so-called caliphate.

Too dangerous

News of attacks frequently took days to filter out because of a lack of communications in the area and the fact that the region was too dangerous for independent observers, aid agencies or journalists to reach.

Witnesses often talked about how they had no protection from the military or that soldiers had fled their posts. Troops complained of a lack of weapons and even bullets. Many refused to deploy against the better-armed Boko Haram.


Lawan Zannah, father of Aisha Zannah, one of the abducted Chibok girls, reacts during an interview in Lagos on April 5, 2016. (Stefan Heunis/AFP/Getty)

International Crisis Group, a non-governmental organization that offers political and security analysis, believes the reaction to the Chibok kidnapping of former president Jonathan's administration "ranged from indifference and denial to later incompetence and deception."

The government was "crippled by corruption and mismanagement" that left it unable to "respond promptly or effectively to the incident," the group said.

The hashtag #BringBackOurGirls, launched on the back of growing public outrage in Nigeria, found supporters across the world.

But despite the international offers of assistance to find the girls, any efforts were met with the dysfunction and disarray of the Nigerian military, stymied also by patriotic pride and complex domestic identity politics.

Surveillance experts from the U.S. and U.K. were said to have located some of the missing girls and passed on their findings to the Nigerians but they failed to follow up on the intelligence.

According to a Pentagon spokesman, U.S. personnel sent to neighbouring Chad to operate surveillance drones and support were redeployed because the Nigerian military had stopped requesting their services.

Still missing

The Nigerian military's record on human rights in the conflict — abuses against civilians, including arbitrary detention, torture and extra-judicial killing — limited how much Western governments could directly assist Abuja militarily.

Two years on and despite a new president who has made defeating Boko Haram his priority, plus sweeping military successes against Boko Haram, the Chibok girls are still missing.

Helping girls threatened by Boko Haram

Certainly, there is caution in Abuja to avoid the failures of the previous administration, which prematurely announced talks and even a ceasefire without clearly identifying who it was speaking to in the Boko Haram chain of command.

Earlier this month, news emerged of an even bigger kidnapping of women and children from the Borno state town of Damasak. Five hundred were taken just months after the abduction in Chibok. Yet the incident failed to win the same attention.

And hardly a day goes by without claims from the military that dozens, sometimes hundreds, of hostages have been released across the northeast.

But as the conflict has gained more scrutiny, there is awareness that Chibok is not an isolated case, even if it is a symbol for the world of the brutality of the violence.

(Anna Cunnningham is a freelance journalist based in Nigeria.)

6 Cases of Child 'Good Luck' Sacrifice Reported in Run-up to Uganda Elections

The dark continent still in the dark ages

© James Akena / Reuters

Several children were murdered and mutilated as ‘good luck’ sacrifices in the run-up to the recent Ugandan elections, a charity has announced. It stated that many locals believe such acts bring wealth and power.

Six cases of mutilation and murder were reported in the lead-up to the elections, Shelin Kasozi of Kyampisi Childcare Ministries (KCM), a charity that cares for survivors of attempted child sacrifice, told Reuters.

"Child sacrifice cases are common during election time as some people believe blood sacrifices will bring wealth and power," Kasozi said.

She said the cases were reported from October to February in the districts of Ssembabule, Mukono, Buikwe and Mubende, all located in central Uganda.

Moses Binoga, coordinator of the anti-trafficking task force at the Ugandan Interior Ministry, acknowledged that children had been reported missing during the election period, but could not confirm KCM's reports. He said investigations are ongoing.

He did, however, acknowledge that seven child and six adult sacrifice cases were reported in Uganda in 2015, compared to nine child and four adult cases in 2014.

Referring to the past cases, Binoga said the mutilated bodies of children and adults had been found, some of whom had their hearts or livers ripped out. In two cases reported last year, the victims' heads were missing, he said.

In 2012, 82-year-old grandmother Hanifa Namuyanja was sentenced to 15 years in jail for taking part in the sacrifice of her granddaughter Shamim Nalwoga. The child was found with her tongue and eyes cut out and genitals mutilated.

The United Nations said last year that attacks on albino people in Africa were on the rise, linked to a growing demand from political hopefuls seeking body parts retrieved in black magic.

The February 18 election saw President Yoweri Museveni extend his 30-year rule, in a vote slammed by the US and the European Union. Ugandans also took part in municipal and parliamentary elections.

Referred to as Uganda's 'President for Life’, Museveni was described in a 2001 UN report as one of the “godfathers of the illegal exploitation of natural resources and the continuation of the conflict in the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo).”

Isn't that normal operating procedure for central African states?

Nigeria's Chibok Girls 'Seen with Boko Haram in Gwoza'

50 Chibok Girls Seen 3 weeks Ago

Screen-grab from video of girls last summer

More than 50 of the girls abducted by militant Islamists in Nigeria last year were seen alive three weeks ago, a woman has told the BBC.

She saw the girls in the north-eastern Gwoza town before the Boko Haram militants were driven out of there by regional forces.

Boko Haram sparked global outrage when it seized more than 219 girls from Chibok town a year ago.
The US, China and other foreign powers promised to help find the girls.

However, the girls have never been traced, and little has been heard of them since they were taken from their boarding school.

The whereabouts of the remaining girls is not clear.

'Big house'

Campaigners in Abuja march during a rally for the release of the schoolgirls
abducted by Boko Haram. Photo: 17 October 2014
A year-long campaign for the release of the girls has not yet been successful

Campaign group Bring Back Our Girls organised a silent march in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, on Wednesday to raise public awareness about the abductions.

In an open letter, Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai called on Nigeria's authorities and the international community to do more to secure the release of the girls.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has said the girls have been converted to Islam and married off, fuelling concern that the militants had treated them as war booty and sex-slaves.

Mr Shekau has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS), which is also notorious for carrying out abductions in Iraq and Syria.

APC party spokesman Malam Garba Shehu says that the incoming president - Muhammadu Buhari - wants to address the issue in an "honest" way.

Now that would be unique in Nigeria, if it's even possible!

The Nigerian woman, who lived under Boko Haram's rule in Gwoza, told the BBC she saw the girls in Islamic attire, being escorted by the militants.

"They said they were Chibok girls kept in a big house," said the woman, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals.

"We just happened to be on the same road with them," she added.

'Treated better'
Three other women also told the BBC they had seen the girls in Gwoza.

Boko Haram was believed to have turned Gwoza into its headquarters after it captured the town in August 2014.

Nigeria's military, backed by troops from neighbouring countries, recaptured the town last month.

The militants were suspected to have fled to the nearby Mandara Mountains, near the border with Cameroon.

It is unclear whether the girls are with them there.

Another woman told the BBC she last saw some of the girls in November at a Boko Haram camp in Bita village, also in the north-east.

"About a week after they were brought to the camp, one of us peeked through a window and asked: 'Are you really the Chibok girls?' and they said: 'Yes'. We believed them and didn't ask them again," the woman said.

"They took Koranic lessons, cleaned their compound, cooked for themselves and they braided each others' hair. They were treated differently - their food [was] better and water clean. "

Nigeria's outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan has been widely criticised for not doing enough to end the six-year insurgency in the north-east, and to secure the freedom of the girls.

Incoming President Muhammadu Buhari has vowed to "crush" the insurgents.

He is due to be inaugurated on 29 May after defeating Mr Jonathan in last month's presidential elections.

Boko Haram at a glance:

Wanted poster for Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau in Maiduguri, Nigeria - May 2013
Founded in 2002, initially focused on opposing Western-style education
Boko Haram means "Western education is forbidden" in the Hausa language
Launched military operations in 2009 to create an Islamic state
Thousands killed, mostly in north-eastern Nigeria
Has also attacked police and UN headquarters in capital, Abuja
Abducted hundreds, including at least 200 schoolgirls
Pledged allegiance to Islamic State