A kidnapped Chibok schoolgirl who was rescued after she was found on the fringes of the vast Sambisa forest has said she misses her Boko H...
A kidnapped Chibok schoolgirl who was rescued after she was found on the fringes of the vast Sambisa forest has said she misses her Boko Haram militant husband. Amina Ali Darsha Nkeki was one of the 276 Chibok schoolgirls who were kidnapped by the Islamist militants in northeastern Nigeria in April 2014.
About a year after her abduction, Ali was married off and later gave birth to a baby girl, Safiya. She was found with her four-month-old baby and suspected Boko Haram militant Mohammed Hayatu, who claimed to be her husband in May 2016. "I'm not comfortable with the way I'm being kept from him," the 21-year-old told CNN in an interview in Nigeria's capital, Abuja.
Speaking directly to the father of her child, Ali added: "I want you to know that I'm still thinking about you, and just because we are separated doesn't mean I have forgotten about you."
Ali's comments were reported just days after Boko Haram – which has rebranded itself as Iswap – released a video showing some of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls. Around 50 girls wearing headscarves can be seen behind a Boko Haram militant who calls for the release of fighters in return for the release of the girls.
Ali said that while she had not seen the video, the Islamist militants told their captives that everyone was looking for them, according to Reuters. In a message of hope, Ali told her fellow pupils: "I think about them a lot – I would tell them to be hopeful and prayerful." She added: "In the same way God rescued me, he will also rescue them."
The precise whereabouts of the missing girls remains unknown, but they are believed to be in the Sambisa forest. They have reportedly been starved and resorted to eating raw maize in a bid to stave off hunger. Some have died while others suffered injuries, including broken legs.
Ali has been staying in the capital for the past few months in what the government has described as a "restoration process," but she is keen to return to Chibok. "I just want to go home – I don't know about school," she said. "I will decide about school when I get back, but I have no idea when I will be going home."
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