Chibok girl refuses to be part of release deal
May 12, 2017
A schoolgirl who was among more than 200 kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014 has refused to be part of a release deal because she is married to a militant, Nigeria’s government said this week.
The disclosure underlines the complex psychological effects of a lengthy captivity and gives an indication of the work required to rehabilitate and reintegrate those released.
Boko Haram has used kidnapping as a weapon of war, seizing thousands of women and young girls, as part of its eight-year quest to create a hardline Islamic state in north-eastern Nigeria.
Men and boys have also been forcibly recruited to fight in its insurgency, which has killed at least 20 000 people in Nigeria alone since 2009.
Presidency spokesman Garba Shehu said the jihadists had initially agreed to release 83 of the teenagers, who were abducted from their school in the town of Chibok in April 2014.
But he told the local Channels television station: “One said: ‘No, I have a husband. I’m happy where I am.’ And then 82 came back.”
The 82 were released on Saturday, after months of talks and the exchange of a number of suspected militants held in government custody.
Twenty-one of their classmates were freed in October; three had previously been found or escaped. Talks aimed at getting the remaining 113 girls freed are understood to have started.
