Rakiya Abubakar, the latest rescued Chibok schoolgirl, on Friday reunited with her parents in Abuja, after the troops of the Nigerian Army had earlier presented her to the Borno State Governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima.
The Theatre Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, which was in charge of mopping up the last pockets of resistance in Sambisa Forest, Maj.Gen. Lucky Irabor, presented Abubakar to the Borno State Government, adding that the schoolgirl was medically fit, according to the preliminary examination.
Troops had on Thursday, during an interrogation of arrested Boko Haram suspects, found Abubakar, one of the 274 abducted schoolgirls, with her six-month-old baby.
Abubakar, who was rescued in Alargano area in the Damboa Local Government Area of Borno State, had confirmed that she was a Class 3B senior student of Government Secondary School, Chibok and her parents were Abubakar Mulima and Habiba Abubakar.
Irabor said further medical examinations would be given to Abubakar.
He said, “Our troops rescued some women and children and in the course of profiling them, Rakiya Abubakar was seen and identified as one of the Chibok schoolgirls. When we got the information, we thought it would be good to hand her over to you. Interestingly, the baby with her is hers, according to the information she gave to us.
“We have done primary medical examination for her and she is fit, although further examinations would be required. It is expedient to quickly hand her over to you as the father of the state.”
Shettima said, “We are grateful to the Nigerian Army for restoring peace to our sub-region.
“We thank you for all your commitment in bringing this madness to an end. We have made an arrangement without much noise to take her (Abubakar) to Abuja on Friday and to hand her over for checkups so that she would to be reunited with her family members. We hope that more girls would be recovered in the coming days.”
Director of Information, Defence Headquarters, Abuja, Brig.Gen. Rabe Abubakar, said the rescue of Abubakar was a sign that more Chibok schoolgirls would be freed.
He said, “The Operation Lafiya Dole is intended to rescue all our citizens held captive by the unholy and murderous group, Boko Haram, including the Chibok girls. The dividend of that effort is manifesting in the rescue of the girl. Nigerians should be patient as we are not going to leave any stone unturned in our rescue efforts.”
