Happy News From Chibok

Despite the many socio-economic and labour problems that currently bedevil this country, last week will be remembered as one of the happiest weeks in Nigeria’s recent history due to the startling rescue of two of the abducted Chibok school girls. We heard last Wednesday that abducted Chibok schoolgirl Amina Ali had been rescued at Bale […]

Despite the many socio-economic and labour problems that currently bedevil this country, last week will be remembered as one of the happiest weeks in Nigeria’s recent history due to the startling rescue of two of the abducted Chibok school girls. We heard last Wednesday that abducted Chibok schoolgirl Amina Ali had been rescued at Bale village in Damboa Local Government Area of Borno State. Both the Army and Civilian JTF rushed to the press to claim credit for the rescue, which is not surprising since success has many fathers while failure is an orphan.
What is not in doubt is that Amina Ali’s rescue was direct fallout of ongoing military operations, codenamed Operation Crackdown, to clear Boko Haram remnants from Sambisa Forest in Borno State. The military heroically stormed Sambisa, long known as Boko Haram’s dreaded fortress. Amina Ali was found among a group trying to flee from the forest, together with Boko Haram terrorist Mohamed Hayatu who said he is her “husband.” She also has a four month old daughter, named Safiya, which she conceived and delivered in captivity.
The treatment that Amina Ali subsequently got from military, local, community, state and federal authorities was nothing less than VIP. Soldiers first took her to Chibok where, though she is emaciated and dishevelled, her mother confirmed her identity. Next Amina, her child and her terrorist “husband” were lifted from Damboa by military helicopter to Maiduguri where they got food, quick medical check and a very pleasant reception and attention from Governor Kashim Shettima. The next day, Shettima took Amina, her child and her mother to Aso Rock, where President Muhammadu Buhari accorded her VIP reception.
President Buhari said many things during the happy occasion. He said Amina’s rescue “gave the government new hope‎ and offered a unique opportunity for vital information.” Indeed it did. This is the first time since April 2014 that anyone has seen any of the abducted Chibok girls outside Boko Haram propaganda and “proof of life” videos. News media have already reported Amina as saying that six of her mates have died. This is very sad but it is actually not as bad as we all feared; one statesman even said that the girls will never return home. She also said they are all there in Sambisa Forest, an extremely vital piece of intelligence. Buhari told an Aljazeera interviewer earlier this year that he had no idea where the girls were, and indeed many people thought they had been dispersed across international borders.
Buhari also said, “Nobody in Nigeria should be put through the brutality of forced marriage. Every girl has a right to education and choice of life.” This means neither the president nor Governor Shettima recognises Amina’s marriage to Mohamed Hayatu, which was contracted in captivity, across religious divides, without her parent’s knowledge, with or without Amina’s consent and with the bloodthirsty Shekau standing as guarantor. Amina had earlier told her rescuers that she has a husband, meaning the two year brainwashing effort had some effect. This is where the delicate task of counsellors comes in.
Buhari also said the Federal Government will take over the education of Amina Ali and that she should go back to school as soon as possible. That is the best way to thwart Boko Haram’s vile attempt to disrupt girl child education and banish Western education from these shores. While this is a very good promise, government is not usually very good at fulfilling such promises in the long term. We are however confident that local and international private actors will soon step in and help with her education.
Things got even sweeter for Nigeria that Thursday afternoon when news filtered in that a second Chibok school girl had been rescued. The military statement said Miss Serah Luka, an SS1 student of GSS Chibok and daughter of a pastor from Madagali in neighbouring Adamawa State, was rescued by troops at 11am that day at Shettima Aboh village in Damboa Local Government. In contrast to Amina’s rescue, Serah was rescued after a fire fight in which the army said it killed 35 terrorists following a clearance operation launched from Buratai town. She was rescued together with ninety seven other women and children.
Afterwards, there was some confusion when some Chibok community leaders said Serah was not their daughter. Indeed, the army’s statement clearly said Serah is from Madagali but she was one of the 270 girls abducted from the Chibok school in April 2014. That means two of the missing girls are accounted for but 218 are still missing. There is therefore still a long way to go but we are confident that all the others will soon be rescued. That the girls as well as other hostages are being rescued in this scattered fashion is the best proof yet that military operations have completely disorganised Boko Haram. Initial suspicions that Boko Haram intended to use the Chibok school girls as a last card to negotiate their way out of a tight corner appears to be no longer feasible.  In a perverse way, Shekau’s “marrying off” the girls to his fighters now looks like it will help their survival as they flee in small groups.
We urge the military not to relent in its bombardment of Sambisa until the last vestiges of Boko Haram are extirpated and all the hostages are rescued. We also have a word for the parents of the rescued girls. Should many of them turn up with babies, the matter should be handled with sensitivity. A mother loves her child, no matter that the father was a terrorist. We should not multiply the rescued girls’ anguish by rejecting their babies.