The two rescued girls abducted from Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State in April 2014, Mary Dauda and Hauwa Joseph, have recounted how they regained freedom from Boko Haram captivity.
This is just as the two rescued girls revealed that more than 20 missing others are still in Gazuwa camp in Sambisa Forest, eight years after being kidnapped by the Boko Haram insurgents.
They made the disclosure while speaking to newsmen in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital on Tuesday at a news conference at the Command and Control Centre Maimalari Cantonment.
Mary Dauda, who recounted her experience in the hands of the insurgents, said she could still vividly recall her compulsory marriage eight years ago after she was abducted at the age of 18 years.
Dauda said she walked through the deadly forest for many days before she found help.
She revealed that like the others conscripted by the militants, she was told she would be hunted down and killed if she deserted.
She said: “I took excuse from Malam Ahmed, that I will be visiting my relative from Chibok in the town of Ngoshe and he gave me one week. That is when I began my journey for freedom.
“I left Sabil Huda, popularly known as the camp of Abubakar Shekau and proceeded towards Njimiya and Parisu, where I met some of the Mujahedeens. They asked where I was going to and I told them I was given permission to visit my sister in Ngoshe.
READ ALSO: Troops find another abducted Chibok schoolgirl
“I finally arrived Gava village in Gwoza, after walking for many hours through the deadly forest under hardship condition. I asked some people to direct me to the home of daughter of Chibok.
“After meeting her, I told her of my plans to return home, she told me she had wanted to come with me but her husband has placed her on strict surveillance for attempting to run. I then left her and proceeded toward Ngoshe town.
“On my way, I met an old man who promised to help me to escape. But he told me that it won’t be possible in the afternoon until the sun had set. At about 8p.m., he took me to Ngoshe town and told me to pass the night in the outskirt of the town and proceed the next morning.
“When the day broke, I took myself to some soldiers where I was rescued with my baby,” Dauda disclosed.
On her part, Hauwa Joseph said she was forcefully married to the Commander of Boko Haram, Amir Abbah, at Gazuwa camp who was later killed during an encounter with the troops of the Nigerian Army.
Joseph said she voluntarily escaped from the camp of the terrorists during massive incursion of the troops of the Nigerian Army into their camp in Gazuwa on June 12, 2022.
She disclosed that as people were running to the same direction where the sect members were hiding women and children, she took a separate route to escape from the terrorists camp.
She said on her way, she met with some of the insurgents who asked her where she was going, but she tricked them and told them that she was following some women to hide in the nearby forest.
“I slept under the tree with my child, then proceeded the next day until I arrived the road where I approached a military checkpoint. Initially, they thought I was a suicide bomber, but when I explained myself, they took me along with them,” she said.
Joseph further thanked the military for rescuing her, saying she hoped other girls still in the camps of the terrorists would be rescued.
The Theatre Commander, Operation Hadin Kai North East Joint Operation, Maj.-Gen. Christopher Musa, said the rescued two girls were among the list of the missing Chibok girls.
Musa said the girls were rescued due to a massive military operation in Sambisa Forest, Mandara Mountain, and the Lake Chad area.
READ ALSO: 110 abducted Chibok schoolgirls still unaccounted for – Borno community
“We are putting more efforts to ensure that the rest of the girls are rescued through the ongiong Operation Lake and Desert Sanity,” he said.
Also speaking, Major General Waidi Shuaibu, The General Officer Commanding (GOC) 7 Division of the Army, said the girls were rescued between June 12 and 14, around Bama and Gwoza general area.
Shuaibu said the girls had received necessary medical attention and would be handed over to the appropriate authorities shortly.
It would be recalled that Boko Haram terrorists kidnapped 276 female students, aged between 16 and 18 from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State in April 2014.
Over 100 of the girls were still missing as of April 14, 2021, seven years after the abduction.
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