One of the 219 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram terrorists in April 2014 has been rescued, the Nigerian Army confirmed on Wednesday.
A statement by Acting Director Army Public Relations, Colonel Sani Usman, said “troops of 25 Brigade Damboa in conjunction with Civilian JTF deployed in one of the blocking positions at Baale, near Damboa rescued one Miss Amina Ali and a suspected Boko Haram terrorist, Mohammed Hayatu, who claimed to be her husband.
“Both were brought to Headquarters 25 Task Force Brigade Damboa at about 2.30pm today.
“Preliminary investigation shows that she is indeed one of the abducted Chibok School girls abducted by Boko Haram terrorists on 14th April 2014 in Chibok and her name is Amina Ali as against Falmata Mbalala that was earlier stated.
“In addition, she is a nursing mother with a four-month-old baby girl who was named Safiya.
“Both the suspected Boko Haram terrorist and the nursing mother have been taken to Maiduguri for further medical attention and screening.”
Hosea Abana Tsambido, the chairman of the Chibok community in Abuja, told the BBC that Amina was found by the vigilantes after venturing into the forest to search for firewood.
Sources told the BBC she came from the town of Mbalala, south of Chibok, from where 25 of the kidnapped girls came.
An uncle, Yakubu Nkeki, told Associated Press news agency that Amina was 17 when abducted and is now 19.
Boko Haram gunmen arrived in Chibok, Borno State late at night on Aril 14, 2014, then raided the school dormitories and loaded 276 girls on to trucks.
Some managed to escape within hours of their kidnapping, mostly by jumping off the lorries and running off into the bushes.
In total, 219 girls remained missing before this latest news.
A video broadcast by CNN in April this year appeared to show some of the kidnapped schoolgirls alive.
Fifteen girls in black robes were pictured. They said they were being treated well but wanted to be with their families.
The video was allegedly shot on Christmas Day 2015 and some of the girls were identified by their parents.
The Chibok schoolgirls, many of whom are Christian, had previously not been seen since May 2014, when Boko Haram released a video of about 130 of them gathered together reciting the Koran.
