Second Chibok schoolgirl found and others will be rescued says governor
President Buhari speaks with rescued Amina Ali Darsha Nkeki
A second girl who was among more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in a raid on their school in the northeastern Nigerian town of Chibok more than two years ago has been rescued, a spokesman for the Nigerian army said..
Sani Usman said thatthe girl was among 97 women and children held hostage by BokoHaram who were freed yesterday after clashes betweensoldiers and jihadist militants in northeastern Borno state.
Amina Ali Darsha Nkeki, , wasfound by soldiers working with a vigilante group three days ago nearDamboa, south of Maiduguri in the remote northeast where BokoHaram has waged a seven-year insurgency to set up an Islamicstate.
Officials confirmed Amina was one of 219 girls abducted fromthe government school in Chibok in April 2014. Last night,the army said an operation in Damboaled to the rescue of nearly 100 hostages who included thesecond Chibok schoolgirl.
“We are glad to state that among those rescued is a girlbelieved to be one of the Chibok Government Secondary Schoolgirls that were abducted,” said Usman, adding that she wasreceiving medical treatment.
He said her name is Serah Luka and she was from thenortheastern town of Madagali, in the state of Adamawa, whichborders Borno.
The army spokesman said it was possible that three othergirls that Serah referred to as having fled and been rescuedwhen the troops arrived may also be among the Chibok girls,adding that this was being investigated.
A photograph of Serah released by the military shows herwearing a blue jilbab, a loose Muslim garment revealing her facebut concealing her torso and arms.
“She averred that she reported at the school barely twomonths and one week before her unfortunate abduction along withother girls over two years ago,” said Usman.
Parents and relatives of Chibok girls hold a vigil at the school site to mark the second anniversary of the abudctions in April 2014
Earlier yesterday, the governor of Borno state, whereChibok is located, said the army was drawing up plans andmoving into a Boko Haram forest stronghold in a bid to rescuethe remaining girls.
“We believe that in the coming weeks we shall recover therest of the girls,” Governor Kashim Shettima told reporters.“The military is already moving into the forest.”
Previous military attempts to storm Sambisa Forest have metwith mixed success, with soldiers making significant in-roadsbut failing to finish off the Islamist militants after runninginto bands of well-armed guerrillas, mines and booby traps.
The #BringBackOurGirls activist group said Amina had told her rescuers the rest of the girls were under heavy Boko Haram guard in Sambisa.
The governor’s comments came shortly after .
“Amina’s rescue gives us new hope and offers a uniqueopportunity to vital information,” Buhari, a 73-year-old formermilitary ruler, said during a meeting with the teenager, hermother and officials after a presidential jet flew her to Abuja.
Amina was discovered with her four-month-old baby, and thearmy said it had detained a suspected Boko Haram militant calledMohammed Hayatu, who said he was her husband.
Amina, who was accompanied by her mother, Binta, Nigeria’s defence minister and national security adviser, spent more thanan hour with Buhari, who made crushing Boko Haram a pillar ofhis 2015 presidential election campaign.
Boko Haram captured 276 girls in a night-time raid on Chibokin April 2014, its most high-profile assault. Some girls escaped in the melee but parents of the remaining 219 accused then-President Goodluck Jonathan of not doing enough to find their daughters, whose disappearance led to a wave of global outrage.
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