The first Nigerian schoolgirl
from Chibok to be rescued from Boko Haram says she misses the father of her baby, a suspected Islamist militant. In her
first interview since being found with her baby in May, Amina Ali Nkeki told
Reuters she also wanted to go home to Chibok, a town in the north. She and her
child are being held in the capital, Abuja, for what the government calls a
restoration process.
More than 200 girls were
kidnapped from a school in Chibok in April 2014. The abduction led to the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, that was
supported by US First Lady Michelle Obama and Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai.
The Boko Haram group has waged a violent insurgency for several years in
north-eastern
Nigeria in its quest for Islamic
rule. Ms Nkeki was found three months ago by a vigilante group in a forest with
suspected militant Mohammed Hayatu, who identified himself as her husband, and
their child of four months. The 21-year-old said she was unhappy about being
separated from Mr Hayatu, who was arrested
after they were found.
“I want him to know that I am
still thinking about him,” she told Reuters. “Just because we got separated,
that does not mean that I don’t think about him.” During the interview she only
lifted her gaze from
the floor once to breastfeed her
daughter when the baby was brought into the room, Reuters reports. “I just want
to go home – I don’t know about school,” she said. “I will decide about school
when I get back.”
Her mother, Binta Ali, told the
BBC Hausa service earlier this week that her daughter wanted the government to
give her a sewing machine so she could become a seamstress. She said the man
claiming to be her daughter’s husband had said he was a mechanic from the town
of Mubi before he was captured by Boko Haram – and that he had organised their
escape.
Earlier her brother had told the
BBC that because of an increase in air strikes Mr Hayatu was no longer willing
to continue fighting and they had planned to leave together. Ms Nkeki said she
had not watched the video, released by Boko Haram on Sunday, which apparently
shows recent footage of some the other
missing Chibok girls.
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