Chibok girls sold off, married by Boko Haram chiefs, says rescued woman

Will the Chibok girls ever return home? The question yesterday became more pertinent when one of the women rescued from the Sambisa Forest told Reuters at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Yola, Adamawa State that finding them could be difficult.

Aisha Abbas, a 45-year-old mother of two, said the girls might have been sold off or married to top sect members as promised by Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau.

According to Reuters, none of the women interviewed saw any of the Chibok girls, but Abbas said fighters who travelled from a camp in Sambisa where they were held to source food would describe the situation.

They said the Chibok girls were married off this year. Some sold to slavery, then others (militants) each married two or four of the girls,” Mrs. Abbas said.

Mrs Abbas, who was taken from Dikwa, Borno State in April, speaking on the weapons situation with the militants, said the fighters all had guns at first but recently, only some carried them.

Of the 275 freed captives brought to a government-run camp for internally displaced people in the Malkohi hamlet on the outskirts of Adamawa State capital, Yola, only 61 were over 18, and many small children hobbled around, visibly malnourished.

Relieving their experience in the forest, the women said they were kept inside, occasionally brought food and sometimes beaten severely. The children were left to run around or do errands for Boko Haram while those of the fighters were trained to shoot guns.

“One evening in April, Boko Haram followers stood before us and said ‘Our leaders don’t want to give us enough fuel and guns and now the soldiers are encroaching on us in Sambisa. We will leave you.’” one of the women, 18-year old Binta Ibrahim from northern Adamawa State said.

“They threatened us but after they went we were happy and prayed the soldiers would come and save us.”