Nearly half of the schoolgirls kidnapped seven years ago remain unaccounted for.
The lives of hundreds of schoolgirls of the Government Secondary School in Chibok, Borno would never be the same after Boko Haram militants abducted them from their school hostel seven years ago.
The abduction of the girls sparked global outrage with international pressure piled on the then Goodluck Jonathan-led government to get them back.
With the abduction happening seven years ago today, there are a few important things to remember about it, including the names of all those yet to be reunited with their families.
1. Boko Haram kidnapped a total of 276 schoolgirls on the night of April 14, 2014. They were about to sit for their final secondary school leaving examination when they were taken.
The attack on the school commenced late on April 14 and lasted into the early hours of April 15. According to Naomi Adamu, one of the girls that has regained her freedom, the abduction was not planned by the terrorists.
She said they had originally invaded the school to steal its brickmaking machine and not to kidnap the students.
The terrorists reportedly only kidnapped the girls because they had no idea what to do with them after failing to secure the machine, and decided to take them to their leader, Abubakar Shekau.
In a diary she kept with four other girls in their initial days in captivity, Adamu wrote, “They started argument in their midst. So one small boy said that they should burn us all and they said, ‘No let us take them with us to Sambisa.’
“Another person said, ‘No let’s not do that. Let’s lead them…to their parent homes.’ As they were in argument, then one of them said, ‘No, I can’t come with empty car and go back with empty car…If we take them to Shekau, he will know what to do.'”
2. While the girls were being transported to Boko Haram’s operational base in Sambisa Forest, 57 of them escaped along the way by jumping off the trucks and running into the forest.
Many of them walked through the forest for days before they found their way back home to their relieved parents.
“Some girls started jumping out of the lorry. We said since others are jumping out, it will be better for them to kill us than to take us to an unknown destination. So I and the girls started running,” one of the girls recalled.
3. When the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari was inaugurated in 2015, he opened a channel of communication with Boko Haram and the talks yielded results a year later when the terrorist group agreed to release some of the girls.
21 Chibok girls were released to the government in October 2016, before 82 more girls were released in May 2017.
The government is believed to have paid the sum of €3 million as ransom and released five Boko Haram commanders back to the Islamic sect as part of the deal.
The government has never publicly admitted to paying ransom to the terrorists, but the military has implicitly admitted to the prisoner swap after one of the released terrorists, Shuaibu Moni, featured in a video taunting the Army.
4. Four girls – Amina Ali Nkeki, Maryam Ali Maiyanga, Rakiya Abubakar, and Salomi Pogu – were separately found or escaped between 2016 and 2018.
Nkeki was found by a Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) patrol group in May 2016 along with her 4-month-old child, named Safiya, and an alleged Boko Haram member, Mohammed Hayatu, who described himself as her husband.
Troops of the Nigerian Army rescued Maiyanga with her 10-month-old son near Pulka in Gwoza local government area of Borno in November 2016 while Abubakar was rescued with her 6-month-old baby in January 2017.
The last Chibok girl to have escaped till date is Pogu who was found by troops in Gwoza in January 2018 after she escaped.
5. Despite the Federal Government’s promises to bring back all the Chibok girls, not much has been heard about the remaining 112 girls.
Their continued stay in captivity has given rise to many theories about their fate with some of them reported, several times, to have died as far back as 2014. Many others are reported to have married their captors and opted to remain with them.
The Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) group that was created to advocate for the return of the girls continues to call on the government to show commitment towards securing their freedom.
Below is a list of the names of all the 112 girls still with Boko Haram:
1. Aisha Lawan
2. Hauwa Mutah
3. Falta Lawan
4. Hajara Isa
5. Kabu Mala
6. Maryam Abba
7. Hannatu Musa
8. Laraba John
9. Deborah Nuhu
10. Saratu Dauda
11. Aisha Grema
12. Asabe Ali
13. Margret Shettima
14. Yana Yidau
15. Hauwa Kwakwi
16. Hauwa Musa
17. Saraya Musa
18. Hauwa Joseph
19. Yana Pogu
20. Jinkai Yama
21. Eli Ibrahim
22. Rifkatu Yakubu
23. Hannatu Nuhu
24. Maryamu Abubakar
25. Hamsatu Abubakar
26. Deborah Abbas
27. Rhoda Haruna
28. Hauwa Wuleh
29. Hauwa Nkeki
30. Christiana Yusuf
31. Rakiya Kwamta
32. Rebecca Kabu
33. Halima Gambo
34. Rhoda John
35. Hassana Adamu
36. Ruth Ngiladar
37. Safiya Abdu
38. Serah Luka
39. Aishatu Musa
40. Hauwa Peter
41. Ruth Bitrus
42. Hanatu Ishaku
43. Mary Amos
44. Victoria Dauda
45. Saratu Thuji
46. Mary Dauda
47. Saratu Iliya
48. Halima Ali
49. Bilkisu Abdullahi
50. Rebecca Joel
51. Zainab Yaga
52. Awa Ali
53. Hanatu Madu
54. Sarah Samuel
55. Mary Nkeki
56. Hauwa Isuwa
57. Godiya Bitrus
58. Awa Sasa
59. Hauwa Balte
60. Glory Yaga
61. Mary Paul
62. Ladi Paul
63. Ruth Lawan
64. Laraba Mallum
65. Ruth Wavi
66. Rahila Yohanna
67. Ihyi Abdu
68. Sarah Samuel
69. Zara Ishaku
70. Rejoice Sanki
71. Deborah Abari
72. Sikta Abdu
73. Saraya Ali
74. Maryamu Lawan
75. Esther John
76. Ladi Joel
77. Lydia Emmar
78. Rose Daniel
79. Hauwa Abdu
80. Laraba Paul
81. Esther Ayuba
82. Mary Dauda
83. Margret Watsai
84. Miriam Jafaru
85. Kuma Solomon
86. Agnes Dauda
87. Mary Dama
88. Patience Jacob
89. Tabi Thomas
90. Hauwa Tella
91. Maryamu Yahaya
92. Saraya Stover
93. Jummai Aboku
94. Elizabeth Job
95. Suzana Yakubu
96. Mary Sule
97. Saratu Thauji
98. Ladi Wadai
99. Yayi Abana
100. Kwamta Kabu
101. Grace Amadu
102. Saraya Paul
103. Esther Markus
104. Rifatu Amos
105. Nguba Bura
106. Monica Enoch
107. Sarah Enoch
108. Rifkatu Galang
109. Dorcas Yakubu
110. Deborah Solomon
111. Solomi Pona
112. Saraya Amos
