By Simon Ateba/Lagos
One of the 219 missing Chibok girls kidnapped by Boko Haram over two years ago has been rescued, and would be meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday, the Army said in a statement on Wednesday, a day after the girl, now a mother of a four month old baby, was reunited with her mother after she was found wandering on the fringes of the Sambisa forest, although the Army claimed that it had rescued her and had earlier referred to her by a name that wasn’t hers.
She was part of the 276 Chibok girls kidnapped on 14 April 2014 as they slept in their school dormitories waiting for their final exams. While some girls escaped shortly after the mass abduction that shocked the world, 219 of them were not so lucky and have been missing for more than two years.
In a statement on Wednesday, the spokesman of the Nigerian Army, Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman, said 19 – year old Amina Ali was rescued along with a man who claimed to be her husband but was being treated as a Boko Haram suspect.
“In continuation of Operation CRACKDOWN, troops of 25 Brigade Damboa in conjunction with Civilian JTF deployed in one of the blocking positions at Baale, near Damboa rescued one Miss Amina Ali and a suspected Boko Haram terrorist, Mohammed Hayatu, who claimed to be her husband,” he said.
“Both were brought to Headquarters 25 Task Force Brigade Damboa at about 2.30pm today. Preliminary investigation shows that she is indeed one of the abducted Chibok School girls abducted by Boko Haram terrorists on 14th April 2014 in Chibok and her name is Amina Ali as against Falmata Mbalala that was earlier stated.
“In addition, she is a nursing mother with a 4 month old baby girl who was named Safiya. Both the suspected Boko Haram terrorist and the nursing mother have been taken to Maiduguri for further medical attention and screening”.
But the Associated Press quoted the family’s doctor, Idriss Danladi as saying that the young woman, who was 17 when abducted, was found by hunters and taken with her baby to her home village of Mbalala, near Chibok, to be reunited with her mother. Her father had died while she was in captivity, said her uncle, Yakubu Nkeki according to AP.
All three were then brought to a military camp and arrived under military escort Wednesday night in Maiduguri, the biggest city in the northeast where they met with the State Governor.
The Army said they would likely meet with President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday in Abuja.
“It is believed that she will be brought to Abuja tomorrow along with her parents to meet with Mr President,” the Army said.
It said “the supposed husband is undergoing further investigation at Joint Intelligence Centre. It should be noted that Mohammed Hayatu is well treated in line with Operation LAFIYA DOLE Rules of Engagement regarding insurgents who voluntarily surrender to the military”.