According to NAN, the two Chibok girls who have been found have described how they escaped the Boko Haram camp.
Remember that eight years after being taken captive by the militants, Mary Dauda and Hauwa Joseph, two rescued girls who were taken from the GGSS Chibok in Borno in 2014, escaped from the Boko Haram camp in Sambisa Forest.
The main base of the Boko Haram faction, formerly known as Gabchari, Mantari, and Mallum Masari, is called Gazuwa camp, and it is situated around 9 kilometers from Bama Local Government Area in Borno.
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The girls, who were wed to Boko Haram commanders, spoke with journalists during a news conference on Tuesday in Maiduguri at the Command and Control Center Maimalari Cantonment.
Both girls were listed on the list of the missing Chibok girls, according to Maj. Gen. Christopher Musa, Theartre Commander of Operation Hadin Kai North East Joint Operation.
The girls were saved, according to Musa, as a result of a significant military operation in the Sambisa Forest, Mandara Mountain, and the Lake Chad region.
Marry Dauda, who described her time spent in the hands of the terrorists, claimed to still be able to clearly remember being forced into marriage eight years ago after being kidnapped at the age of 18.
Dauda claimed that it took her many days of walking through the dangerous woodland before she sought assistance.
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She had been told, like the other recruits for the militants, that if she deserted, she would be found and executed.
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.
“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 8 p.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.
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“When the day broke, I took myself to some soldiers where I was rescued with my baby,” she said.
Hauwa Joseph, one of the two rescued girls abducted from the GGSS Chibok in Borno in 2014 speaking to journalists on her escape from Boko Haram captivity in Sambisa forest
Hauwa Joseph, one of the two rescued girls abducted from the GGSS Chibok in Borno in 2014 speaking to journalists on her escape from Boko Haram captivity in Sambisa forest
On her part, Hauwa Joseph said she was forcefully married to Amir Abbah, Commander of Boko Haram (Munzul), at Gazuwa camp who was later killed during an encounter with the troops of the Nigerian Army.
She said that 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.
Joseph said as people were running the same direction where the sect members are 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 check point. Initially, they thought I was a suicide bomber, but when I explained my self, they took me along with them.
She thanked the military for rescuing her, saying that she hoped other girls still in the camps of the terrorists would be rescued.
The two rescued girls also revealed that more than 20 missing others are still in Gazuwa camp in Sambisa Forest,
Maj. Gen. Christopher Musa, said military will put more efforts to ensure that the rest of the girls are rescued through the ongiong Operation Lake and Desert Sanity,” he said.
Also, 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.
READ ALSO: We Have Enrolled Over 72,000 vulnerables Citizens, 90,000 Formal And 20,000 Informal Sector - OHIS
Boko Haram 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 at April 14, 2021, seven years after the initial kidnapping.
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