Perhaps, the cheeriest news Nigerians heard in October was the release of 21 of the Chibok schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram in 2014.
The terror group kidnapped nearly 300 female students from a secondary school in Chibok on April 14, 2014, while they were preparing to sit for their examination.
This provoked international outrage and put Nigeria on the spot. While the girls were being taken away, over 50 of them managed to escape on the day they were captured.
However, in May, another Chibok schoolgirl, 19-year-old Amina Nkeki, was found by the Civilian JTF and handed over to security agents. According to a statement by the Presidency, the girls were released after negotiations between Boko Haram, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Nigerian and Swiss governments.
The release raised hope that more of the schoolgirls would be freed as government confirmed that negotiations are still ongoing. Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, told an international news agency, Reuters, that: “These 21 released girls are supposed to be talebearers to tell the Nigerian government that this faction of Boko Haram has 83 more Chibok girls.
“The faction said it is ready to negotiate if the government is willing to sit down with them,” adding that the government “is prepared to negotiate with the branch of Boko Haram.” Sadly, the girls were subjected to rape, beatings and starvation while some were coerced into forced marriages while in captivity. Although one of the girls returned with a baby, there are fears that others could have been impregnated by the terrorists.
Prior to the release of the girls, a girl identified simply as ‘Zara’, for security reasons, was rescued by the Nigerian Army last year after she was abducted by the Boko Haram terrorist group.
Although it was not certain whether she is from Chibok or not, there were indications that she was abducted from one of the communities in the North- East by the terror group.
In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Zara said despite being reunited with her family, she wished she had remained in the forest with the group rather than suffering the stigma as a Boko Haram “bride.” Zara, who was pregnant at the time she was rescued, later gave birth to a baby boy.
She narrated her ordeal: “People called me a Boko Haram wife and called me a criminal. They didn’t want me near. They didn’t like me. They didn’t like my child. When he fell sick nobody would look after him.”
According to her, on a particular night in April, she slept outside with her kid because of heat. A snake came into the compound and killed her nine-month-old baby.
“Some were happy he died. They were happy the blood of Boko Haram had gone from the family. They said they thank God that the kid is dead, that God answered their prayers,” Zara said in tears.
The stigmitisation and hatred shown to the girl by her community made her to contemplate either suicide or going back to the forest and meet her Boko Haram husband. Zara’s experience has shown that people may be afraid that the 21 girls have been indoctrinated by Boko Haram and as such could show violence tendencies and pose as threats to their communities.
The fear could be heightened by the belief that most of the girls used as suicide bombers are those abducted by the terror group. The children born by these girls while with the terrorists also risk stigmatisation since many will see them as products of sexual violence.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) expressed a similar fear when it stated in a statement that: “Frequently, returning to their families and communities is the beginning of a new ordeal for the girls, as the sexual violence they have suffered often results in stigmatisation.”
But it is important that the society should accept the released girls and those expected to be freed soon. While the government has a major role to play in integrating the rescued girls back into the society, members of the society should also welcome the girls back into their fold. This will enable them to overcome their traumatic experiences in the hands of the terror group.
The society should bear in mind that the victims will face a long and difficult process to rebuild their lives after suffering emotional wound, sexual violence and psychological injury. The inherent danger in stigmatising the victims could lead to creation of much bigger problem than Boko Haram.
At this point in time, the girls need medical attention, psychosocial support and love so that they can quickly overcome the trauma of over two years in captivity.
While we urge the government to negotiate the release of the remaining girls, it is also important that it should fund the process that will lead to the rehabilitation of the girls.
The girls have lost so much in the last two years and no amount is too much to spend on their rehabilitation and reintegration into the society.
