14 schoolgirls escape from boko haram

A total of 44 girls have so far escaped from the hands of suspected members of the Boko Haram, who kidnapped 129 female students from the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State last Monday. 85 others are still missing, according to Honourable Inuwa Kubo, the state Commissioner for Education, who spoke to Weekly Trust […]

A total of 44 girls have so far escaped from the hands of suspected members of the Boko Haram, who kidnapped 129 female students from the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State last Monday. 85 others are still missing, according to Honourable Inuwa Kubo, the state Commissioner for Education, who spoke to Weekly Trust on phone.
As at Thursday, only 30 girls were found but the commissioner said 14 others were returned to Chibok by citizens who found them wandering in the bush. “We give thanks to God. So far we have recovered 44 girls,” he said. But he decried the poor security presence in Chibok, pointing out that the locals, especially women, are crying all the time. He continued: “In the whole of Chibok, you can hardly see a policeman or soldier. We’ve had to keep the students somewhere else to avoid further trauma for them. I could hardly move out of Chibok today because parents of the missing children besieged me, demanding for their children in tears. They kept crying to government to help in rescuing their daughters.”
Worried by the manner in which the rescue operation is going on, hundreds of people including men, women and children in Chibok have resorted to prayers for the safety of their daughters yet to return. “We’ve resolved to take our case to the Almighty God to help us as it appears there is no concrete measure on ground to rescue them,” Awa Peter, whose daughter was also abducted, said.
She told Weekly Trust: “We’ve resolved to intensify night vigil in churches for God to deliver our children from the hands of the wicked. It is now five days and only God knows the trauma that our daughters are passing through.”
Saratu David, whose younger sister was also abducted, said many women whose daughters have been taken away from the school are distressed. “There are many of us who no longer eat. We are only praying to God to help us find our children. We have resolved to wear black clothing,” she said.
Locals in Chibok allege that since the day of the incident, there was no girl that was officially rescued by security forces. They pointed out that all the 44 girls that are back returned in trickles after escaping.
Weekly Trust gathered from authorities and locals in Chibok that despite the deployment of hundreds of troops to the Sambisa Forest, not much progress has been made in rescuing the girls, aged between 16 and 18. Over 700 members of the youth vigilantes, also known as ‘Civilian JTF’ have joined in the rescue mission, now in its fifth day. It was also gathered that many youths from Chibok and environs, who out of frustration decided to storm Sambisa Forest to rescue their daughters and sisters, have changed their minds. “We were advised to tarry a while for security reasons,” Nahemiah Emos, a resident of Chibok said.
Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima, had announced a N50 million bounty for any useful information that will lead to the rescue of the girls.
How the girls escaped
Trouble started at GGSS Chibok when the schoolgirls were asked to report and write their SSCE final year examinations. It was gathered that on the fateful Monday, insurgents dressed in military uniforms told the students that there is a security report of an imminent attack by Boko Haram and would require them to be moved to a safer location, a security source told Weekly Trust. “But when they were loaded in a truck and were heading towards the bush, some of the girls sensed danger,” the source said.
Two of the escapees said they escaped by a miracle, and security personnel denied journalists access to them for elaborate interview or photograph. “We were among the first six that escaped when the truck we were loaded in broke down,” one of them said. “Two of us took the left direction and the four other girls took to the right. We ran and ran, but I believe that it is God that chose us to be among the living,” she said.
Others hung onto tree branches while the truck was moving. Some were actually taken to the insurgents’ camp deep in the Sambisa Forest, but managed to escape when the insurgents told them to cook food for them.
Dilemma of security forces
Security sources said the insurgents may be using the girls as “human shields or war brides” stressing that it will require a lot of strategy to free the students. “There are indications that the insurgents have laced the bushes with mines which mean we would require a serious aerial operation. We would also need bomb detection facilities,” the source added.
“The Army must be given sophisticated equipment if at all the authorities want this insurgency defeated,” a local of Damboa, which is one of the routes being used by the insurgents, said.