A girl, identified simply as Zara, who was abducted by Boko Haram but
was later rescued by the Nigerian Army has expressed her willingness to
join the terror group because of the stigma she is now experiencing
after she was reunited with her family.
This is just as Ahmad Salkida, a journalist known to have unfettered
access to Boko Haram, said that the government’s decision to close down
the Chibok school was a sign of victory for the terror group since their
plan was to discourage western education.
However, the story of Zara (not real name), who is a 17-year-old girl,
is one among the myriad of young girls, whose lives have been “cut
short” by the invasion of the sect in various communities in the
North-East. Recounting her ordeal in an interview with the British
Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Zara said she was kidnapped by the Boko
Haram and then freed by the army, a development that had made her
sometimes wishing she were back in the forest (Sambisa) rather than
suffering the stigma as a Boko Haram “bride”.
Though unconfirmed if she was one of the missing Chibok schoolgirls,
Zara said until now she didn’t have her own social media hashtag, but
like thousands of others – free or still captive – she is deeply
traumatised.
In telling #ZarasStory, being the first time she was speaking to
outsiders about her “terrible experience” a year on, and the pain she
still suffers to this day, Zara said: “They gave us a choice – to be
married, or to be a slave. I decided to marry.
One of the militants had once told her: “You are only coming to school
for prostitution. Boko (Western education) is Haram (forbidden) so what
are you doing in school?” But as she continued in her narration, there
was so much confusion in her face and in her answers even though she
claimed not being a killer, but just a child. Continuing, Zara said:
“The feeling for the forest is strong now, but it will go away.
I will forget the time with Boko Haram, but not yet.” She said she was
in love with her husband although she believes she had been brainwashed,
a development which made her feel abandoned by her faminily and
stigmatised by her community.
While she lamented the precarious state in which she had found herself,
it became so obvious that there was little or no difference in her
story, except for the fact that child she was soon to bear a child.
Collaborating her story, her uncle, Mohamed Umaru, said: “Life was tough
and dangerous.
The air force jets bombarded the vast Sambisa Forest where the militants
have their camps and from where soldiers rescued her and eventually
returned her to her relatives. “The women in our family realised she was
three months pregnant. In our family it happens that some of us are
Christians and some are Muslims.
She was a Christian before she was kidnapped but the Boko Haram who
married her turned her into a Muslim.” On whether to give birth to the
unborn baby or not, Umaru said there was a split in the family over what
to do and they took a vote as to whether she should abort or keep the
child. The majority prevailed and she gave birth to a boy.
“She said her husband’s father is called Usman, so that is how she named
the child,” Mohamed said. Immediately “Usman” was born, according to
him, the insults began. “People call me a Boko Haram wife and called me a
criminal. They didn’t want me near.
They didn’t like me,” Zara said as a tear slowly slipped down her cheek.
She now sits inside the small walled compound around her house, afraid
to go outside because of the cruel insults of the neighbourhood children
– messages of hate learned from their parents.
“They didn’t like my child. When he fell sick nobody would look after
him,” she said. To justify this fact, Zara said last weekend, as she
slept outside with “Usman” who was just nine months old because of the
heat, a snake got into their compound and the boy was killed. She stated
that half of the family celebrated what they called God’s will.
“Some were happy that he died. They were happy the blood of Boko Haram
had gone from the family,” Zara said. “They said thank God that the kid
is dead, that God has answered their prayers. Sometimes she says she
wants to go to school and become a doctor and help society, but
sometimes, when people insult her, she says she wants to go back to the
Sambisa Forest.
“She always talks about her husband who happens to be a Boko Haram
commander. She says the guy is nice to her and that he wants to start a
new life with her,” Mohamed explained. Listening to Zara’s story, told
quietly with eyes flicking down at the ground, it is hard to imagine
anyone going through what she has gone though, let alone a 17-year-old
girl.
By implication, Mohamed said Zara’s life had become so intolerably hard
that on one occasion she had said she wanted to “go and do a suicide
mission”.“She will, she will, she will definitely do that if she gets
the chance. She is sad, she is angry, she is confused. She is 17.
“People should understand that these children didn’t create this, but if
we continue to stigmatise people with such trauma we might create
something much, much bigger than Boko Haram in the future,” her uncle
says.
“You are creating a more dangerous thing than Boko Haram if you grow up
not welcomed by society and with nobody wanting to help you. “My prayer
is for the government to do something.
They should come to their aid and reintegrate them and show them love,”
he added. Meanwhile, Salkida who took to his tweeter handle to mark the
second anniversary of the abduction of over 200 schoolgirls, said that
soldiers were put on guard of the dilapidated Chibok school overgrown
with weeds to ensure that reporters do not continue to show Nigerians
and the world the ruins of that institution.
“By this alone, government has surrendered to the designs of Islamic
State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP, another name for Boko Haram). They
couldn’t even demonstrate defiance by making sure the schools run even
if periodically as symbolic statement of defeat of BH.”
He shared that it had been two years since over 200 girls were abducted
in the embattled town of Chibok. According to him, there have been
several other abductions, but none is as symbolic and taken as seriously
by the captors as those of Chibok girls.
“As far as ISWAP is concerned, only these schoolgirls and dozens of
other men and women are regarded as their real captives.” He pointed out
that in the last eight months, ISWAP has lost significant turf
following constant attacks by the Nigerian Army and the other military
operatives. “The captors have succeeded in keeping their most prized
possession to themselves and refused the girls unconditionally.
Till date the captors have insisted on their demands for the release of
the girls and every rescue attempt, if there were, have failed.
Investigation revealed that more than half of the girls are still alive
and the majority of those alive are eager to reunite with their loved
ones,” Salkida said. He stressed that since the use of force had failed
to bring out a positive result and government wanted their release on
their own terms, negotiated resolution would still suffer.
“Today, I join parents of the girls and other wellmeaning persons to
appeal to ISWAP to release the girls for the sake of Allah alone. Let’s
consider the lives of these poor captives. He stated that If Nigerians
could hardly bear the hardship of fuel scarcity, lack of electricity and
austerity, what about fellow citizens in captivity? “Chibok girls have
been able to survive two years of failed rescue, failed negotiation
because people in government have no fire is their belly over this.
The only thing reasonable now is to plead with ISWAP for their release
or demand a timeline for action or transparent negotiations from
government.” In a related development, the senator representing Kaduna
Central, Sheu Sanni, has urged the government to negotiate with Boko
Haram to secure the release of the schoolgirls.
The senator, who spoke on Channels Television’s breakfast show, ‘Sunrise
Daily,’ said: “I know some academic arguments that if A happens, B
would happen. We all know that all over the world, when you have this
kind of hostage situation, the persons holding them hostage have very
little to lose.
That is why I’m insisting that we should coordinate the approach because
this is very necessary to protect our people, our territory and to also
give them a clear message that you can’t win by bombing and other forms
of violence.”
When asked his view on an unnamed Australian negotiator and Salkida’s
advice that the government should negotiate with the terror group,
Sanni, who had also tried to broker peace between Boko Haram and the
government, unequivocally favours Zalkida’s advice.
“Well, I don’t know who is the Australian negotiator but I know of
Zalkida, had we taken Zalkida’s advice, things should have been better
by now. He’s finally fled from the country to save his life but he had
given some useful advice on how this thing should be done.
And you cannot dismiss his idea when you haven’t implemented it. “I
think if we don’t doubt the credibility of his involvement, we’ve not
implemented what he’d suggested. We can’t just take his idea, put it on
the table, look at it and close the pages and move to the next one.
Then later say that we need another one again. We need to follow it
through. I believe he’s a credible source whose idea should be taken
into serious consideration,” he said. He expressed hope that it was not
the end of the road for the over 200 girls held in captivity for a
little over two years now. Sanni added:
“We want the girls back. So, I think we need to bring his idea to the
table again and go ahead with what he has said. All we need to do is get
a few credible people to join him. I firmly believe that these girls
will come back home.”
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