Chibok girls fight for Boko Haram as mercenaries

By OKOSUN OKHUELEIGBE

The hope of rescuing all Chibok girls intact abducted in 2014 is gradually been eroded as some of them have been conscripted into Boko Haram fighters.

The revelation was made on Sunday as one returnee from Boko Haram camp, a 21-year old Tabitha Adamu, who was rescued said she met so many of them in the terrorists camp now fighting for Boko Haram

Tabitha, who is heavily pregnant, was one of the women freed from the sect’s camp and handed over to the Borno State Government last week.

She was said to have been forcefully married to one of the sect’s commanders, Abu Kabir, after the payment of N5,000 as bride pride to the women who were taking care of them at the camp.

According to Tabitha she was taken from Bayan Dutse in Gwoza Local Government Area, when the insurgents invaded her village.

She said: “They killed my father and brother. They took me along with my mother but at some point we were separated. Since then, I’ve not set my eyes on my mother. When he (Abu Kabir, my Boko Haram husband), wanted to marry me, he gave the women who were taking care of us N5,000 as my bride price.

“Before the marriage, I was asked to convert to Islam. I did so because many who refused were killed. She added that her name was changed to Samira and had to answer the name but I know my true name conscious of her real name.

She explained that when she was rescued and narrated her ordeals to the soldiers, identifying herself as Tabitha, they sympathized with her.

“They asked me if I am one of the wives of the Boko Haram and I told them my story. They felt for me and they treated me well.

“Many people asked me since we were liberated, particularly about the pregnancy. I don’t know the right answer to give because I actually do not know what to do. It has happened. I don’t know what the authorities would do about it but I think it is too late to abort it. But my prayer is that I give birth safely.”

Tabitha said she completed her secondary education and earned a certificate in computer appreciation in Maiduguri before she joined her parents in Gwoza, at the height of the Boko Haram insurgency.

According to her, now that the government has promised to help her, she would be looking for a good future when she finally gains her freedom after the government might have trained her in a trade.

It would be recalled that over 200 Chibok school girls were abducted by Boko Haram insurgents on the night of 14–15 April 2014, from the Government Secondary School in the town of Chibok in Borno State, Nigeria.

Responsibility for the kidnappings was claimed by Boko Haram, an Islamic Jihadist and terrorist organization based in northeast Nigeria.