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Nigeria: Girls released

Following the amazing news that 82 Chibok girls abducted by Boko Haram had been released a few weeks ago, a video released by the militant group claims that some of the girls chose not to go free. Instead, they preferred to remain with the militants.

In what must be a heartbreaking piece of news for some Chibok parents, the video shows one girl dressed in a veil and holding a gun saying her name and stating that she doesn’t want to go back to her family because she wants them to accept Islam.

A Nigerian Presidential spokesman confirmed that after the 82 were released one girl had refused to leave. She declined to be part of the release deal because she had married a Boko Haram fighter.

Abducted 14 year old girl sent on suicide mission

A 14-year-old girl arrested on suspicion of being on a suicide mission in northern Nigeria says she was chosen because she refused to marry Boko Haram fighters.

One of three suspects arrested at a military facility, the girl said that a week after she had refused her third proposal she was restrained and drugged, before being prepared for her mission with a man and another woman.

“We spent one and a half days on the road to Maiduguri. It was when we got to Maiduguri that they strapped the bombs on our bodies. At that moment, I knew that I was going to die, so I started crying,” she said.

“I was watching when the first bomber, a female, detonated her explosive close to a military checkpoint, which killed no one but herself. The second, a man, was killed by the military before he could detonate his. At that time, something told me to remove my own IED and surrender, which I did. I was surrounded by soldiers and policemen and I fainted.”

The girl is currently undergoing de-radicalisation at a military detention facility, according to Lucky Irabor, Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole (the Nigerian army’s effort to end the Boko Haram insurgency).

About Nigeria

Nigeria ranks as number 12 on the Open Doors 2017 World Watch List. In 2016 hundreds of Christians were killed in the north of the country where certain states operate under Islamic Sharia law. In these states face discrimination and restrictions in accessing community resources, such as clean water, health clinics and higher education. The Nigerian government has also been fighting an ongoing war in the north east with Boko Haram, the militant extremist group that kidnapped the Chibok girls. However, most of the recorded killings have been carried out by Hausa-Fulani herdsmen, a radical Islamic tribe that frequently targets Christian communities in Nigeria’s middle belt.

Source: World Watch Monitor

Pray now…

• For women and girls vulnerable to manipulation by Boko Haram, the God’s righteous hand would guide them
• That the Chibok girls still in Boko Haram captivity would soon be freed
• That the 14-year-old girl would receive the healing and support she needs.