TheCable

The Nigerian military has moved the women and girls who were recently rescued from Sambisa forest to an unknown location for security and recovery reasons.

Zakari Abubakar, the camp manager for the internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in Malkohi, Adamawa state, confirmed this to TheCable on Friday.

“It is very correct that the girls have been moved; every other thing is security information,” he said on phone.

Sanni Datti, spokesperson for the Adamawa state emergency management agency who also spoke to TheCable, said the women and girls were moved to an unknown location to get psycho-social support.

“They were moved for this psycho-trauma training (psycho-social support) and preparation for integration to their families,” he said.

“All of the girls were moved.”

The girls, who were all kept at the Malkohi camp, Yola, were confirmed to have been suffering stomach ulcer, eye defects, and various degrees of trauma.

Brought in on May 2, 2015, they narrated to TheCable their ordeal in the hands of their captives – flogging, starvation, stoning among others.

When asked if the movement was due to any indication of radicalisation among the women, as being speculated in the media, Datti said: “I don’t know that; if there is anything else, only you can go and find out.”

Anne Melliote, an official of the international committee of the red cross (ICRC), had earlier told TheCable that the women and girls were being assessed to enhance reintegration to their families.

“We want to assess and track their relatives – restoring family links, this is part of protection and it is quite confidential.”

Kashim Shettima, the Borno state governor, had said insurgents were impregnating the kidnapped women with hopes of raising future insurgents.

Also speaking after their rescue, Zahra Umoru, one of the victims, said it was unclear how the sect got its information, but it always had its way of pre-empting the military’s itinerary.