10 years following abduction by Boko Haram, Nigerian woman rescued
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Lydia Simon was rescued about 95 miles(150km) east of Chibok in the Gwoza council area, where 276 schoolgirls were taken in April 2014; as many as 82 are still missing.
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Lydia Simon from a picture released by the Nigerian Army on April 18, 2024.
10 years after being abducted by Boko Haram militants when she was a schoolgirl in the town of Chibok, Nigerian troops have rescued a pregnant Lydia Simon and and her three children.
Lydia Simon was rescued about 95 miles(150km) east of Chibok in the Gwoza council area, where 276 schoolgirls were taken in April 2014. As many as 82 are still missing.
The Nigerian army announced the news on April 18, but did not give details of the rescue other than that Simon was found in the community of Ngoshe which is next to Chibok in Borno state.
Simon, who still has not been united with her family, was five months pregnant, the army said, and shared a picture of her and her three children born in captivity, who seem to be between the ages of two and four.
Some Chibok parents and security analysts expressed that there is scarce evidence to show there is a special military operation to free the remaining women, as it is also not known whether they are still alive or not.
The Chibok abduction
The Chibok abduction was the first of a series of mass school kidnappings in Nigeria, with many of the kidnapped, currently adults, being freed or having fled, however, terrorist groups continue to target schools for mass abductions.
According to the Lagos-based geopolitical risk consultancy SBM Intelligence, more than 2,190 students have been kidnapped since the Chibok attack.
It also said that mass abductions had become "an increasingly favorite sport for Nigeria’s teeming armed groups."
Following the kidnapping, around 57 women escaped by jumping off the trucks that were transferring them.
82 others were freed in May 2017 after the government reportedly paid million-dollar ransoms.
In recent years, those who came back were mainly discovered in abandoned forests.
According to an activist in the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, Chioma Agwuegbo, some of the recently released women have been subjected to rape by insurgents or forced into marriages.
"We have heard their stories about the amount of trauma and violence they have faced. Somebody who was kidnapped 10 years ago is not returning as the same person," Agwuegbo told the Associated Press.
Some hope
Abuja-based analyst Idayat Hassan, a non-resident fellow with the Africa program at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said that the rescue of Simon is a symbol of the enduring hope that took over her hometown.
"It’s symbolic that 10 years after, we still got another of the girls," Hassan said, adding "It keeps our hope alive."
The chair of the Chibok girls’ parents’ association Yakubu Nkeki also said, "The government has not told us anything [and] we are waiting for an official call."
