Nigeria has claimed the rescue of a
second Chibok girl, just days after the first, but campaigners on Friday cast
doubt on her identity and attention turned to the circumstances of the
releases. The army said Serah Luka was among 97 women and children rescued in
the Damboa area of northeast Nigeria on Thursday morning during military
operations against Boko Haram Islamists. The announcement came just hours after
the first girl to be found, Amina Ali, met President Muhammadu Buhari, who said
the discovery gave a “unique opportunity” to find the remaining hostages. This
handout picture taken in Damboa and released by the Nigerian army on May 20,
2016 shows Serah Luka after she was released during an operation conducted by
Nigeria's army in which local civilian vigilantes took part. Serah is one of
219 girls abducted from their school in Chibok more than two years ago. The
student, who is believed to be a Christian pastor's daughter, said she was
"at the school at the time they were abducted" and that she was from
Madagali, in neighboring Adamawa state. / AFP PHOTO This handout picture taken
in Damboa and released by the Nigerian army on May 20, 2016 shows Serah Luka
after she was released during an operation conducted by Nigeria’s army in which
local civilian vigilantes took part. Serah is one of 219 girls abducted from
their school in Chibok more than two years ago. The student, who is believed to
be a Christian pastor’s daughter, said she was “at the school at the time they
were abducted” and that she was from Madagali, in neighboring Adamawa state. /
AFP PHOTO The 19-year-old was discovered with her four-month-old baby girl,
Safiya, and a man she described as her husband near Boko Haram’s Sambisa Forest
enclave on Tuesday. Nigeria’s military, which has pushed out Boko Haram from
captured territory in the last 15 months, has been conducting operations in the
former game reserve in Borno state since late April. Until this week, rebel
fighters held 219 of the 276 students abducted from the Government Girls
Secondary School in the remote town of Chibok on the evening of April 14, 2014.
Fifty-seven escaped in the immediate aftermath of the kidnapping, which
provoked global outrage and brought unprecedented attention on the conflict,
which has killed at least 20,000 since 2009. – Not on the list – The head of the
Abducted Chibok Girls Parents group, Yakubu Nkeki, said unlike the first
announcement about Amina, the military had not contacted them beforehand to
establish the second girl’s identity. Only two girls with the surname Luka were
on the list of abducted girls and none was from Madagali, in neighbouring
Adamawa state, as the military said the second student had claimed, he added.
The military said the teenager was believed to be a Christian pastor’s daughter
but Nkeki said there were only four priests on the list of parents and none was
called Luka. “I can say in my capacity as the head of the Chibok Abducted Girls
Parents group that this girl is not among the abducted Chibok girls,” he told
AFP. The head of the BringBackOurGirls campaign group in Abuja, Oby Ezekwisili,
said they were “overjoyed” at the rescue but tweeted: “We have asked for some
further verification of her identity.” A senior military source stood by the
army’s statement, saying it was “beyond reasonable doubt” that she was among
the girls snatched. “The military personnel who carried out the rescue
operation and the civilian vigilantes who assisted them and those who know the
girl confirmed that she is among those abducted,” he added. “We can only change
our position if the principal of the school or the government of Borno state
come out and refute this established identity of the girl.” – Sign of talks? –
This week’s developments have raised hopes that the remaining students will be
released and follows a so-called “proof of life” video sent to the government
earlier this year. Until then, none of the kidnapped schoolgirls had been seen
since May 2014, when they were shown in a Boko Haram video, apparently
converted to Islam and reciting passages from the Koran. Nigeria’s government
was cautious about the “proof of life” video because of difficulties
establishing whether those who sent it had the authority of the group’s
leadership to request talks. Security analysts tracking the conflict suggested
Amina may have been released as a gesture of “good faith” by Boko Haram
elements rather than by simply military action. Ryan Cummings, from Signal
Risk, said escape was unlikely given that the Chibok girls were said to have
been heavily guarded at militant camps in the Sambisa Forest, a vast semi-desert
scrubland. “It seems very fortuitous that the hostage (Amina), child and BH
husband just happened to run into a CJTF (civilian joint taskforce) patrol as
described”, he told AFP in an email. Nigeria’s military have described the man
found with Amina as a “suspected Boko Haram terrorist”. Cummings also suggested
reports of his “defection” with such a prized asset, straight into the hands of
the Nigerian army and military intelligence, also seemed unlikely.