Some of my ex-classmates now have 3 children each for insurgents, says freed Chibok girl

April 15

17:00 2024

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Amina Nkeki, one of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls who escaped in 2016, says some of her former classmates still in captivity now have at least three children each for insurgents.

Nkeki spoke on Sunday when she featured on Sunrise Daily, a programme on Channels Television.

On April 14, 2014, terrorists stormed the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno state, and abducted about 276 girls.

Some of the girls have been released through the years, others commandeered their escape, while about 108 are still missing.

“Some of them are mothers of three children, four children. It’s not easy for them. I feel so sad because that place is not a good place for anyone,” Nkeki said.

Nkeki said the former schoolgirls are facing hunger, sickness and many other challenges of motherhood in captivity.

‘WHY I MARRIED A TERRORIST’

Nkeki said she agreed to marry one of the insurgents while in captivity as an escape strategy.

“For me, I married so that I will get freedom to go where I wanted and from there, I will escape,” she added.

“They (insurgents) told us that if we didn’t agree to marry them, we were going to be their slaves. So, because of that fear, some of us thought instead of being slaves, let’s get married.

“That’s how some people decided to get married. And some people took all the risk. Some of us got married that may be it will be a way for of escape, most especially a person like me.”

Nkeki also recounted how she escaped, saying it happened when the troops engaged the insurgents in a gun duel.

“I escaped when soldiers were in the forest to fight those Boko Haram people. They (insurgents) were running to the bush to hide and we (the hostages) also ran,” she said.

“After that, we went our own way. That was how we escaped but because of how big the bush was, we didn’t know our way. It took us one month plus before we came out (of the forest).”

Nkeki, who regained freedom with a baby in her arms, is now a 200-level student of mass communication at a university in Yola, the Adamawa state capital.