By Lawrence Olaoye, with agency reports
One of the 53 girls who escaped from the grip of the Boko Haram insurgents who are currently holding about 233 schoolgirls of the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno state, Sarah Lawan, has said that she is too scared to return to school to complete her examinations.
The 19-year old Miss Lawan told The Associated Press (AP) in Hausa language during a telephone interview yesterday, that the kidnapping was “too terrifying for words”.
“I am really scared to go back there; but I have no option if I am asked to go because I need to finish my final year exams which were stopped half way through”, she said.
She said the thought of going back to school terrifies her. Either the burned out ruins of Chibok Government Girls Secondary School or any other school. But it will have to be done if she is to realize her dream of studying law.
Miss Lawan said other girls who escaped later have told her that the abductors spoke of their plans to marry them.
According to her, more of the girls could have escaped but that they were frightened by their captors’ threats to shoot them.
“I am pained that my other colleagues could not summon the courage to run away with me,” she said, adding that: “Now I cry each time I come across their parents and see how they weep when they see me”.
Meanwhile, the failure to rescue those who remained captive, four weeks after, has attracted mounting national and international outrage.
This is just as prayers have intensified for God’s intervention for the rescue of the remaining girls still in the captivity.
“The future of these missing schoolgirls hangs in a balance. The council should not leave them to fend for themselves,” executive director of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, Adetokuno Mumuni, said in a statement.
US Senator, Charles Schumer, called for a reward, including refugee status, for anyone who is not a terrorist that provides help leading to the girls’ rescue.
The United States already has designated Boko Haram a foreign terrorist organization, as has the European Union, making it illegal to contribute to the group. And Washington last year put a $7 million ransom on the head of Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, who said in a video last week that he will sell the girls into slavery.
Never miss a moment! Get the stories shaping Nigeria, delivered straight to your phone. Follow Peoplesdaily Newspaper on WhatsApp for breaking news, exclusive reports, and the headlines everyone will be talking about, before anyone else.
