Two years after the abduction of 276 school girls from their hostels in the Government Girls’ Secondary School, Chibok, in Nigeria’s north-eastern state of Borno, by the terrorist group Boko Haram, their memory is still fresh in the hearts of many as the hash tag #BrigBackOurGirls and innumerable tears-evoking comments have flooded social media platforms in the past couple of days.
“Gut-wrenching anniversary – 2 years have gone by and the Chibok girls are still missing! Agony for the families and indictment of world we live in,” commented Isha Sesay of CNN.
Teenage Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, in an open letter on the eve of the anniversary, reminded the girls’ families that the world is still hoping for their safe return.
“I write this letter with a heavy heart, knowing you have endured another year separated from your daughters. I think of you every day since we first met two years ago – and join millions of people around the world in praying for the safety and swift return of your girls,” she wrote.
Yousafzai also urged Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari to take more action to find and rescue the girls.
“Would a president give up the fight for his own daughter? These girls are just as precious to their families,” she said
“I stand with the people of Nigeria. My heart aches for the hundreds of boys and girls who have been kidnapped by Boko Haram over the years,” said US presidential hopeful, Hillary Clinton.
But in the face of all this, some ‘doubting Thomases’ are still passing comments that suggest that no girls were abducted, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
In the heat of the debate shortly after the abduction, a BDSUNDAY senior correspondent visited Chibok and spoke with some of the abducted school girls who managed to bravely escape on the way to Sambisa forest.
One of them, 16-year-old Saratu Isa, told BD SUNDAY that it was her God that she refused to deny when asked to do so by the insurgents that set her free.
“I told them, kill me if that is what will please you, but be it known to you that I will never abandon my faith! I was born in it and I will also be pleased to die in it. I am not afraid of your guns,” she narrated to BDSUNDAY.
One of her classmates who was also a Christian had already been coerced into denying her faith. It was a say-yes-or-die situation!
“When we got to where the lorries were, there was no place for me to enter because the whole place was occupied. They asked us to follow them on foot to nearby village in search of a vehicle that would convey us. On reaching there, they found a vehicle and some of the girls entered and there was no place for me and two other girls in the vehicle,” Isa further told our correspondent.
According to her, the insurgents, getting frustrated by now because they could not find a vehicle for the remaining three girls, decided it would be best if the girls were killed.
“They said since we were proving stubborn, they would kill us and set our sisters free. As they argued whether to kill me or not, some of the vehicles and okadas (motorcycles) had started moving and leaving us behind. Some of the okadas had three or four people on each! Some said ‘let’s kill them’, others said ‘no, let’s leave them for wild animals to kill’. They went to ask their leader what should be done to us since there was no extra vehicle to convey us and he told them we should be left to wander in the bush. That was how God saved me from being killed by the insurgents,” she said.
Another escapee, 19-year-old Hauwa John, told BDSUNDAY how she was discussing with 10 of her classmates without realizing the silent night had something dreadful in stock for them.
“We dispersed and went to our hostels to sleep. On getting to our hostels, we heard several gunshots coming from the entrance of the school. It was then some of us gathered and wanted to run away. But some disagreed saying it was too dangerous. While we argued whether or not to escape, some men entered the hostels and said they were security men and that they were here to rescue us. They asked us to gather ourselves together which we did,” she narrated.
Thereafter, she said, they heard the sound of many okada (motorcycles) coming from the entrance of the gate accompanied with several gunshots with thunderous shouts of ‘Allahu Akbar!’ The girls were frightened to see hundreds of insurgents inside the school premises. They were led out of the school with the insurgents guarding the girls who were on a single line on both sides, ensuring that none of the girls escaped, she further narrated.
“They drove us out of the school and started burning down the whole building. They led us outside the town to some distance where they parked and loaded the students one by one inside the trucks and small cars and started off the journey,” she said.
“When we got to a particular village, some of us started whispering to one and another. We concluded that it was better for us to die attempting to escape than to be carried to unknown destination where we may eventually be killed. I personally decided to jump out of the lorry. So, I jumped out of the lorry, fell down with serious pain and started running to a particular direction. When I got to one village, I called for help and luckily, the people kept me in their place having heard my story and brought me back to my parents in Chibok the following morning,” she said.
Another escapee who spoke to BDSUNDAY, 16-year-old Kauna Bitrus, also had her side of the story to tell.
Reverend Enoch Mark, the pastor in-charge of Church of the Brethren in Nigeria (Chibok chapter), had told BDSUNDAY that two of his daughters were among the girls abducted by the insurgents.
“I am a pastor, a community leader and a victim as well. Two of my daughters were abducted. It’s painful when I hear people saying no girls are missing. What do we stand to gain by telling the world our daughters are missing? Shekau has told the world he has our girls,” he said.
Nigerians and the international community would recall the tension in the air on April 14, 2014 when the news broke on national television that 276 school girls had been abducted from their hostels in Chibok.
“We cannot claim to have defeated Boko Haram without rescuing the Chibok girls and all other innocent persons held hostage by insurgents. This government will do all it can to rescue them alive,” President Buhari had promised in his inaugural speech on May 29, 2015.
Eleven months after that promise was made, however, the girls are still missing.
Only recently, Lai Mohammed, Nigeria’s controversial Minister of Information, disclosed to CNN that the Presidency was having ongoing talks with the Boko Haram sect on the release of the Chibok schoolgirls.
According to him, details of the conversation will not be disclosed in order not to endanger the negotiations, adding that the new video released by the sect shows that there had been “little transformation in their (Chibok girls) physical appearance”.
President Buhari had earlier assured Nigerians that his administration was willing to negotiate the release of the girls with authentic leaders of the sect.
But at an event in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife recently, former President Olusegun Obasanjo asked Nigerian leaders to stop deceiving the populace because, according to him, the Chibok girls cannot return again as two years after being captured by Boko Haram, it was futile to hope that they would return alive.
Obasanjo said it was the failure of the immediate past president, Goodluck Jonathan, to take the right action immediately that brought the Chibok girls to this sorry fate.
“Seventy-two hours after the Chibok girls were abducted was too late for their rescue, talk less of getting to two years by April. So if any leader is promising bringing back the Chibok girls to Nigeria, he is lying,” he said.
But the pressure continues to mount on the Buhari administration, from the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) movement led by Oby Ezekwesili, from other NGOs, from the generality of Nigerians, and from the international community to #BringBackOurGirls, while parents of the abducted girls keep hope alive that their girls will return to them alive.
MABEL DIMMA & NATHANIEL AKHIGBE
