Scary revelations About Boko Haram: Escaped Chibok Girl Raped 15 Times By 15 Men Every Day. HT:
OsunDefender.
More scary revelations have emerged to shed some
light on the agonising experience of the missing Chibok girls, based on the
account of one of the escapees.
Three of the girls have so far escaped from the
terrorist group, Boko Haram, who abducted over 200 girls from a government
secondary school in Chibok, Borno State on the night of April 14, 2014.
A clergy and expert on counter-terrorism,
Oladimeji Thompson, of The Omoluabi Network, who has been working with other
groups to assist victims of the abduction overcome their pains, gave a chilling
narration based on an account of one of the escapees.
He said, “One of the girls I interviewed was
being raped 15 times by 15 men every day.” He said the girl was traumatised and
confused.
“It’s obvious this girl needs to be managed. She
looked confused. She found it hard to talk to me but after much prodding, she
confessed to me that she was raped 15 times by 15 men throughout the time she
was with the Islamic insurgents before she could escape from their den.
“A girl who has been raped by 15 men every day,
you say you negotiate and gave her back and release a terrorist who will go out
and kill more. What negotiators do is to say that they must not tell their
stories, they blanket all the information. In a situation like this, it is the
Boko Haram that wins more.”
Asked if the girl was not pregnant after her
ordeal in the hands of the insurgents, the pastor, probably in an attempt to
protect the schoolgirl, declined further comments asking our correspondent to
move to other issues.
Many of the mothers confirmed to our
correspondent that against all trumped up figures in the media, only three girls
have since managed to escape from Boko Haram’s den.
The Omoluabi Network is working with other groups
such as the Unlikely Heroes, a United States based trauma management specialists
and the Gabasawa Women Initiative, a coalition of women across Northern Nigeria
led by Kucheli Balami, to provide psychological and emotional support for the
escaped girls and their grieving parents.
He called on government not to negotiate with the
terrorist group but explore every other option in rescuing the missing
girls.
“The people who are talking about dialogue in the
first place don’t understand that this thing is a merciless, unrelenting,
non-negotiating monster. Those who have studied it globally and locally know
that anybody who says negotiate is likely a mole that really belongs to the Boko
Haram, pretending not to be part of them.
“If you look at the United States today, the
reason it is a prosperous nation is because it refused to negotiate with the
colonial powers that threatened it. Nigeria negotiated, look at where we are
today. America stood by principle, look at where it is today. So, we are at a
crossroads right now. If you claim to negotiate and make Boko Haram stronger,
you have betrayed all the blood of thousands who have been slaughtered by these
terrorists. If you negotiate, you are only prolonging the evil day, helping
people who will eventually reach your own children.
In the wake of the girls’ abduction, there has
been blame trading by the Borno State government and the West African
Examination Council over whose laxity led to the sad development. While WAEC had
claimed it warned the state government against staging the exam in the town, the
administration had strongly debunked that allegation. But some of the aggrieved
women revealed they were forced into allowing their daughters live in the hostel
during the examination.
“Nobody sought our opinion before deciding that
the girls stayed in the hostel. Most schools in Borno have been closed because
of Boko Haram, how silly would we be to allow our children into such danger? We
were never aware of that arrangement.”
“Once the girls in captivity return, the reality
is that our work has only just begun. These girls are going to need trauma
therapy, immediate medical care and all the things they will need to properly
stabilise and overcome this trauma. It is mostly likely that when they get out
they will need up to 10 to 16 weeks to be able to recover from the shock.
“It is also important that they are placed in a
very safe environment. The safer the environment that they are placed in, the
quicker they will be able to heal. The more specialised care that they are given
immediately upon return, the easier it will be for them to recover and be
re-integrated into their normal communities and everyday life,” she said.
US Congressman, Louie Gohmert, said during the
meeting that the girl’s abduction now came tops in major delibrations within the
country’s political circle in recent weeks. Gohmert who played a major role in
ensuring the US government designated Boko Haram a Foreign Terrorist
Organisation, howeever chided the White for not using its intelligence and
technology to crush the sect and rescue the girls from captivity.
“We must all rally behind the families of these
missing girls. The international community must step up efforts to free the
girls. If the US does not use its power to stop Boko Haram, God will use someone
else to do it. We will not relent on our calls until these girls are safely
released to their families,” he said.
Last week, the Chief of Defence Staff, Air
Marshal Alex Badeh, told news men that they had located the whereabouts of the
young girls but that they were taking all necessary precaution in freeing them
from captivity.
Earlier this week, the Australian government, through its
Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, offered to allow its special forces partake in
the search for the girls. The Nigerian government, according to Thompson, is yet
to accede to that request.
Mothers and family members of the abducted young
women would be hoping for a quick resolution to the problem even as they look
forward to wrapping their daughters in their arms sometime as soon as possible.
But for now, they are living with the pains and wounds brought by the sad
incident.
Source: PUNCH Nigeria
