
Chibok Girls ‘Now Boko Haram Fighters’ – Returnee
The hope of recovering the abducted Chibok girls
yesterday dimmed further with the declaration by a
returnee from Boko Haram camp.
Twenty-one-year old Tabitha Adamu, one of the
women
freed from the sect’s camp and handed over to the
Borno State Government last week, said the girls had
turned to Boko Haram fighters.
Tabitha, who is expectant for one of the sect’s
commanders who forcibly married her, said she
mingled
with the girls at various times in the sect’s camp.
According to Tabitha, she was taken from Bayan
Dutse
in Gwoza Local Government Area, when the
insurgents
invaded her village.
She said:
“They killed my father and brother. They took me
along with
my mother but at some point we were separated.
Since
then, I’ve not set my eyes on my mother. When he (Abu Kabir, my Boko Haram husband), wanted to to marry me, he gave the women who were taking care of us N5,000 as my bride price.
“Before the marriage, I was asked to convert to Islam. I did so because many who refused were killed and they gave me a name (Samira). I answered the name but I know my true
name is my real name. When we were rescued I told the soldiers that my name is Tabitha.
“They asked me if I am one of the wives of the Boko Haram and I told them my story. They felt for me and they treated me well.
“Many people asked me since we were liberated, particularly
about the pregnancy. I don’t know the right answer to give
because I actually do not know what to do. It has
happened. I don’t know what the authorities would do about
it but I think it is too late to abort it. But my prayer is that
I give birth safely.”
Tabitha said she completed her secondary education
and earned a certificate in computer appreciation in
Maiduguri before moving to join her parents in Gwoza, at
the peak of the Boko Haram insurgency.
According to her, now that the government has
promised to help her, she would be looking for a good
future when she finally gains her freedom after the
government might have trained her in a trade.