Some of the
schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram from Government Secondary School, Chibok in
Borno State, in April 2014, refused to be part of a group of 82 girls
freed at
the weekend, one of the negotiators involved in their release has revealed.
In October
last year, 21 of the kidnapped girls were released in a deal brokered by
Switzerland and the International Committee of the Red Cross while 113 of the
girls are believed to be still held in captivity by the terrorists.
A legal
practitioner and mediator, Zannah Mustapha, said some of the abducted girls
refused to join the train to freedom, fuelling fears that they had been
radicalised by the jihadists, and might be afraid, ashamed or even too powerful
to return to their old lives.
“Some girls
refused to return. I have never talked to one of the girls about their
reasons,” said 57-year-old Mustapha, who acted as an intermediary in the latest
negotiations between the Nigerian government and Boko Haram, while speaking
with Reuters.
“As a
mediator, it is not part of my mandate to force them (to return home).”
A Nigerian
psychologist, Fatima Akilu, believed that the girls might preferred to identify
with their captors instead of embracing freedom.
“They
develop Stockholm syndrome, identify with captors and want to remain,” said
Akilu, who has run deradicalisation programmes for Boko Haram militants and
women abducted by them.
“Some are
afraid of what to expect, the unknown. We don’t know how much influence their
husbands have in coercing them not to go back,” added Akilu, head of the Neem
Foundation, a non-profit group aimed at countering extremism in Nigeria.
On his part,
Mustapha explained that future talks between the government and the sect would
extend beyond the release of the remaining Chibok girls in captivity and focus
on negotiating peace in the conflict-hit North-East.
Why release
of 82 girls was suspended by sectMedia reports about the 21 Chibok girls
released in October 2016, caused the delay in the release of their 82
colleagues, who were left off the hook on Saturday.
A competent
source told Punch on condition of anonymitythat the arrangement between the
Boko Haram sect leaders and the Federal Government negotiators was that the
release of the 21 girls on October 13, 2016 should be kept secret.
The source
added, “Unfortunately, I guess somebody who was part of the process was excited
at the release of the girls and broke the news to an online medium. The
government had no choice but to confirm the development against the wish of the
sect leaders.
“With that
development, which was seen in the Boko Haram camp as a betrayal of trust, they
also refused to release the 82 girls the following Saturday as agreed earlier.”
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