A Girl Rescued in Nigeria Was Not Taken in Chibok Kidnapping, Group Says

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/21/world/africa/nigeria-chibok-girls-boko-haram.html

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ABUJA, Nigeria — An advocacy group pushing for the rescue of more than 200 schoolchildren kidnapped by Boko Haram fighters more than two years ago said Friday that one of the two girls who turned up this week was not among those taken in the mass abduction.

Military officials had said the girl, Serah Luka, was abducted in April 2014 along with dozens of classmates when members of the militant group Boko Haram raided their boarding school in the village of Chibok.

Ms. Luka was a student at the school in Chibok but was not there on the night of the Boko Haram attack, said Rotimi Olawale, a spokesman for the advocacy group Bring Back Our Girls. She apparently was taken by Boko Haram at a later date, from her hometown, Madagali. Ms. Luka was rescued Thursday.

“Every citizen returned is victory for us all,” Bring Back Our Girls said a statement.

Gov. Kashim Shettima of Borno State said both Ms. Luka and Amina Ali, a girl who was among those abducted from the Chibok school in 2014 and rescued this week, would be taken to a safe house in Abuja, the capital. There, they would be made comfortable, debriefed and “de-radicalized,” if necessary, he said.

After years of brutal rampages by the Boko Haram militants, some Nigerians fear that anyone who has spent time with the group may have become a Boko Haram sympathizer.

“We’ll make deliberate efforts to rehabilitate her,” Mr. Shettima said. “How? By ensuring that she continues with her education.”

Mr. Shettima said dozens of people rescued during military raids, including some of whom are family members of Boko Haram leaders, were under his custody in Maiduguri. One is the mother of a Boko Haram commander; another is an 8-year-old girl rescued on the day she was to marry a fighter.

“Some of them are deeply involved in the whole enterprise,” Mr. Shettima said. “They need a lot of trauma management, a lot of psychosocial support and rehabilitation.”