One of the Nigerian schoolgirls held captive by the Boko Haram militants was recently rescued and returned to her family.
On April 14, 2014, 276 schoolgirls attending the Government Girls Secondary School in the town of Chibok, Nigeria were kidnapped by the militant group. While some managed to escape, 218 girls are still missing.
Two years after the kidnapping, Amina Ali Nkeki is believed to be the first Nigerian schoolgirl rescued from her captors. A local vigilante group who fights against the Boko Haram found Nkeki near the Cameroon border in the Sambisa forest.
But the Nigerian schoolgirl was not alone. She was carrying a young child. Her school's vice principal identified her as one of the abducted schoolgirls. Nkeki was 17 years old when she was kidnapped.
Following the 2014 kidnapping, the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls went viral on social media. It is also the name of an advocate group whose goal is to speed up the search and rescue of the abducted Nigerian schoolgirls.
According to #BringBackOurGirls spokesman Sesugh Akume, Nkeki spoke with the Nigerian military about the other girls still held within a heavily guarded area at the heart of the forest.
Chibok community leader Tsambido Hosea Abana said Nkeki told the Nigerian army that they cannot penetrate the forest in order to get to the girls because the area is well secured. Nkeki added that the Chibok girls are still in captivity; however, six have already died.
According to Nkeki, she went out to get some firewood, which enabled the vigilant group to intercept her. However, Nigeria's military said Nkeki and her young child as well as a man claiming to be her husband had been rescued. The man is also suspected of being a Boko Haram member.
The government of Nigeria believes that the Chibok schoolgirls are still in captivity in the northern Nigerian forest; however, launching an attack and rescue mission in the dense woods could pose danger to the young women.
