Anthony Iwuoma
Seven years after, one of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls, Ruth Pogu, has reunited with her family.
Ruth was one of the over 200 schoolgirls Boko Haram ibdurgents abducted from Government Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State in February 2014.
However, she did not return alone; she came back with two children she had given birth to while in the captivity of Boko Haram terrorists and was received by the Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum.
Ruth, alongside someone she was said to have married while her captivity, surrendered themselves to the Nigerian military on July 28, 2021, at a location in Bama.
Security and government officials had kept the development secret while verifying her true identity from association of parents of the missing schoolgirls.
According to Mallam Isa Gusau, Zulum’s spokesman, the governor received the Chibok girl at the Government House in the presence of overjoyed parents, who reunited with her.
Zulum, it was gathered, said the development had rekindled hopes that the other girls in captivity would some day regain their freedom in safety.
The governor said the state would undertake a rehabilitation and reintegration programme that would focus on Ruth’s health, psychosocial well-being and her chosen path to a productive future, which she will determined by herself.
Zulum said: “I am extremely excited both as Borno’s governor and father of all sons and daughters of the state, and also as a father to daughters. I know the feeling of families of those still under captivity but we have to remain hopeful especially with today’s development.”
He consoled the families whose daughters are still held hostage and urged them to remain optimistic, prayerful and cooperative with security agencies.
Also, the Chairman of the Chibok Girls Movement, an association of all affected parents, Yakubu Keki, was excited by Ruth’s return, adding that the Chibok community was grateful to security agencies for their efforts.
