The parents of the abducted Chibok girls say they still have hope that their daughters are still alive and will reunite with them one day.
Some parents of the abducted girls expressed this hope in a chat with our correspondent who visited Chibok on Friday following the rescue of Amina Ali Nkeki, one of the missing Chibok girls, by members of a vigilance group.
Ladi Lawan Zannah, mother of one of the abducted girls, Aishatu Lawan Zannah, said 18 of the over 200 mothers of the abducted girls had died of high blood pressure.
She also told our correspondent that she had lost four pregnancies after her daughter’s abduction due to high blood pressure occasioned by emotional trauma.
Zannah said when news filtered into the town that one of the abducted girls named Aishatu had been rescued, she believed that the girl was her daughter.
This, she said, was because only her daughter and one other abducted Chibok girl shared the same first names.
She however said she had not remained the same after finding out that the rescued girl was not her daughter.
Zannah said, “So, when the news broke in the town that one of the missing girls had been found by vigilantes who also brought her to Chibok to verify her claim, I was so happy.
“At the time, the name on the lips of many people was that of Aishatu and I know that there were only two Aishatus among the abducted girls. So, I rushed out in the hope of meeting my own Aishatu. But it turned out that she was not the one. I have not been myself again since that encounter.
“I still have hope that my daughter is still alive and I will definitely meet with her one day.”
The mother said she had had four miscarriages as a result of high blood pressure, which she linked to the emotional trauma she suffered as a result of her daughter’s abduction.
She however said she counted herself lucky to still be alive because, according to her, 18 of the mothers whose daughters were abducted had died of high blood pressure.
“In my own case, I have never given up hope of reuniting with my daughter because every time in my prayers the Lord still tells me she is alive. I have hope that I will see her alive even though I don’t know what condition she may be in,” she added.
Ayama Pogu, a retired Assistant Superintendent of Police, whose wife had died as a result of the emotional trauma she suffered following the abduction of their daughter, Magreth, said though he was optimistic about reuniting with his daughter, some of the abducted girls might never be rescued.
He said, “Even if the children were to return, I am of the view that not all of them will come back in one piece.”
Some of the parents also lamented the government’s slow response in rebuilding the Government Secondary School, Chibok where the schoolgirls were abducted by the Boko Haram insurgents on April 14, 2014.
The father of Naomi Adamu, one of the missing girls, who joined the civilian Joint Task Force to assist the military to keep the community safe, decried the government’s slow response in reconstructing and rebuilding damaged infrastructure in Chibok.
He said the delay had hindered a lot of the returnees from settling down even after peace had returned to the town.
Adamu, who said that “my daughter is alive,” added that he wanted the government to grant the local hunters approval to go into Sambisa Forest.
According to him, most of the girls are dwelling among the Boko Haram sect members in Sambisa Forest.
The parents also lamented the absence of functional secondary schools and hospitals in Chibok.
They claimed that the situation was the main reason why some community members, who deserted their homes, had refused to return home.
Elsewhere in the North-East, specifically in Romirgo, Gulak, Faa Gaya, Faa Chibok and Pupagum, which are part of the communities ravaged by insurgency, returnees lamented the government’s slow response to the reconstruction and rebuilding of destroyed buildings in their communities.
Our correspondent observed that the GSS, Chibok where the over 200 schoolgirls were abducted by Boko Haram insurgents on April 14, 2014, still lay in ruins.
The classrooms and hostels are in a state of disrepair while the general hospital in Chibok is not functioning.
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