Nearly seven years after Chibok kidnapping, more girls escape Boko Haram: report

Almost seven years after more than 200 girls were kidnapped from their school in Chibok, Nigeria, by Boko Haram, more girls have escaped and are being reunited with their families. 

Emmanuel Ogebe, a Nigerian human rights lawyer, told ABC News on Thursday that a parent informed him that his daughter escaped the militant group.

“Mr. Ali Maiyanga’s two daughters were part of the few Muslim schoolgirls taken with the majority Christian Chibok girls. Information currently available to us indicates that there are other escapees with the army whom parents are anxiously waiting to identify,” Ogebe said.

Maiyanga got to speak to his daughter on Thursday, the report said.

Boko Haram, a militant group with a name meaning “Western education is forbidden,” attacked an all-girls boarding school in 2014. The attack led to 276 girls being kidnapped in the middle of the night. 

Maiyanga’s daughter is not the only one who escaped Boko Haram this week. Lawal Zannah, secretary of the Chibok Parents Association, said others have escaped as well.

This is not the first time girls who were kidnapped by Boko Haram were found. Other girls have escaped their captors before or have been released after negotiations. 

Boko Haram has been terrorizing Nigeria since 2009 and pledged their allegiance to ISIS back in 2015. It is still unknown what happened to some of the girls after they were kidnapped.