A civil rights worker in Nigeria’s restive northeast
organised the dramatic rescue of nearly 500 schoolgirls from a town
under attack by Boko Haram.
He has been credited with averting a repeat of the abduction, in
April last year, of 279 students from the town of Chibok, most of whom
are still missing
Ibrahim Garuba Wala, better known as I G Wala, a leader of Nigeria’s
National Consensus Movement (NCM) arranged for the daring evacuation of
the children from deep in the bush, where they had fled with their
teachers
His rescue operation was conducted under the noses of the Nigerian
military, which had reportedly refused to enter the area because it was
too dangerous.
The incident happened two months ago, but has remained virtually
unreported, even in Nigeria. I G Wala has provided photographs and video
of the rescue, showing the 470 girls, all wearing school uniforms,
running in single-file through dusty terrain, many barefoot
Liaising with their teachers, who had alerted the NCM leader to their
plight by mobile phone, I G Wala agreed a rendezvous point near a
remote village accessible by road. He hurriedly arranged a fleet of
passenger vans from the state capital, Gombe, 50km away, which whisked
the girls to safety.
They had been boarding at the Federal Government College in Bajoga
town, which had come under fierce attack by the jihadi insurgents, who
entered the town in stolen Armoured Personnel Carriers. They attacked
the police station, robbed the bank and looted shops.
A heavy gunfight ensued between the insurgents and the Bajoga police,
alongside a few dozen soldiers based near the town. An unknown number
of militants, police and military personnel were reportedly killed.
As the Boko Haram fighters entered the school compound, I G Wala was on the phone to a member of staff at the school.
“I could hear the teachers screaming at the girls just to drop
everything and run. All I could think of was the girls from Chibok and I
knew that we could not let this happen again,” he said. I G Wala has
been an active member of the Bring Back Our Girls campaign.
He claims he begged a Nigerian military commander to send in his
troops to rescue the school girls but was told that the situation there
was out of control. When I G Wala insisted on leading a group of
civilians to rescue the girls, the commander, he says, agreed to supply
two military escort vehicles.
Pictures show a handful of armed soldiers observing the evacuation.
From where the road ended, the rescuers had to continue into the bush
using motorcycles borrowed from villagers.
She ran up to me, crying, and hugged me. I told her and her friends
not to worry and that everything would be OK now. You should have seen
their faces
The civil rights worker took with him the speaker of the Gombe State
Assembly, Inuwa Garba, who has confirmed the entire account to Channel 4
News.
Mr Garba said military aircraft were bombing Boko Haram positions in
the bush which is why the army commander had been reluctant to let the
civilian rescue party enter the area.
While travelling by motorcycle, a preferred mode of transport for
Boko Haram, they had to fly white flags so that military pilots above
would not bomb them.
The girls ran a total of 15km through the bush. They had been unable
to take any water and many were severely dehydrated, I G Wala said. One
had been injured by treading on a spike with bare feet.
“We carried some of them on our backs for the final kilometre back to
the nearest village, which was as far as our vans had been able go. We
had brought with us a vehicle loaded with bottles of water for the
girls.”
The children and their teachers emerged from the bush at dusk. The
area was extremely insecure and “we had to get out quickly,” he said.
The girls were driven to the Government Girls’ Secondary School in Gombe
city.
‘Uncle!’
One of the students was I G Wala’s own niece, 13-year-old Miriam Mohammad Garuba Wala.
“When she saw me, she cried out ‘Uncle!'” he said. “She ran up to me,
crying, and hugged me. I told her and her friends not to worry and that
everything would be OK now. You should have seen their faces,” he said.
“They were distraught.”
“When we finally arrived in Gombe, we were met by teachers and many
parents of the girls from Bajoga. There was nothing quite like that
feeling. It was very emotional,” said I G Wala.
“I had a sense of accomplishment on completing this task,” he said.
“After the whole thing, what is important is that whenever you feel that
you just have to do something, you just have to do it, regardless of
risk.”
The militants have led sustained attacks in the Gombe area in recent
weeks. Ten days ago, a car bomb exploded 200m from a stadium in Gombe
city, just minutes after President Goodluck Jonathan had left a
political rally there. The bomb killed at least one bystander and
wounded seven. The previous day, a suicide bomber killed five and
wounded eight near a mosque in the city.
Boko Haram, an Islamist group which has affiliated itself with
Islamic State and has established a self-declared caliphate across
northeastern Nigeria. The group’s name roughly translates as “Western
Education is Forbidden.” It has repeatedly attacked schools and abducted
children. Those who have escaped say they are used by the insurgents as
porters for weapons, as cooks and sex slaves.
In February last year, the insurgents killed 59 boys at the Federal
Government College of Buni Yadi in Yobe State. One month ago, an attack
on a boy’s school in Potiskum, also in Yobe State, killed nearly 50,
when a suicide bomber, dressed in school uniform, detonated his vest
during morning assembly.
‘No thanks’
I G Wala’s civil rights organisation, the National Concensus Movement,
is a coalition of youth groups across northern Nigeria. It agitates
against “the gross insensitivity of the Federal Government of Nigeria,”
towards those who have suffered “unimaginable atrocities and
calamities.”
I G Wala said he had received no word of thanks or even
acknowledgement from the Nigerian federal authorities or the military,
only from the principal of the school in Bajoga. He has remained
friends, he said, with the ten soldiers “who shared this ordeal” and
escorted his rescue convoy.
The Nigerian military has reportedly refused to confirm that any of
the events described here even happened. Channel 4 News has repeatedly
called the Nigerian military spokesman but so far has not received a
response.
The girls of the Federal Government College in Bajoga are now back at
school. There is now a heavy military presence in the town. The day
after the girls were rescued, the Nigerian military is understood to
have deployed reinforcements to Bajoga town but the convoy was
reportedly ambushed by the insurgents and 28 soldiers were killed.
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