Almost a year after she was rescued from Boko Haram captivity
by the Nigerian army, Zara John, 16, is still in love with one of the
fighters who abducted her and impregnated her, AlJazeera reports.
She was delighted to discover that she was pregnant with his
child following a urine and blood test carried out by a doctor in the
refugee camp to which she was taken after her rescue.
"I wanted to give birth to my child so that I could have
someone to replace his father, since I cannot reconnect with him again,"
said Zara, one of hundreds of girls kidnapped by Boko Haram during a
seven-year insurgency in northeast Nigeria.
But any decision over the baby was taken out of her hands. Her father drowned during flooding in 2010 so her uncles
intervened. Some were adamant that they did not want Boko Haram
offspring in their family - and insisted on an abortion. Others felt the child should not be blamed for its father's crimes. In the end, the majority carried the vote and Zara was allowed
to keep her child, a son she named Usman who is now seven months old.
"Everybody in the family has embraced the child," Zara in a
telephone interview, asking that her location remain undisclosed. "My
uncle just bought him tins of Cerelac [instant cereal] and milk."
Zara was 14 when Boko Haram members fighting to establish an
Islamic state raided her village of Izge, in northeast Nigeria, in
February 2014.
They razed homes in the village, slaughtered men and loaded women, girls and children on to trucks.
Two of Zara's brothers were out of town when the assailants
struck in one of a wave of hit-and-run attacks on villages, as well as
suicide bombings, on places of worship or markets.
Zara's mother fell off one of the overloaded trucks but tried
to chase after the vehicle that was ferrying away her only daughter and
her four-year-old son, but was unable to keep up as it drove 22km to
Bita.
At the time, Bita and other surrounding towns near the Sambisa forest were in Boko Haram control.
"As soon as we arrived, they told us that we were now their slaves," Zara recalled
Her days were spent doing chores and learning the tenets of her
new religion, Islam, until two months later when she was given away in
marriage to Ali, a Boko Haram commander, and moved from a shared house
to his accommodation.
"After I became a commander's wife, I had freedom. I slept any time I wanted, I woke up any time I wanted," she said.
He bought me food and clothes and gave me everything that a
woman needs from a man." She added that he also gave her a mobile phone
with his number in it, and tattooed his name on her stomach to mark her
as a Boko Haram wife.
Ali assured her the fight would soon be over and they would
return to his hometown of Baga, where he intended his new wife to join
his fishing business.
He told her he abandoned his trade and joined Boko Haram
after his father and elder brother, both fishermen like himself, were
killed by Nigerian soldiers.
In a June 2015 report based on years of research and analysis,
Amnesty International said the Nigerian army was guilty of gross human
rights abuse and extrajudicial killings of civilians in parts of
northeast Nigeria, calling for an investigation into war crimes.
Ali was not at home when the Nigerian army stormed Bita in
March 2015 and rescued Zara and scores of other women, taking them to a
refugee camp in Yola in northeast Nigeria.
The raid came as international scrutiny on Nigeria increased
after the high-profile abduction of 200 schoolgirls from Chibok in
northern Nigeria in April 2014, which caused outrage internationally and
sparked the global campaign #bringbackourgirls. The girls are yet to be
found.
But Zara and Ali stayed in touch by phone until Nigerian
soldiers realised some of the girls in the camp were still in touch with
their abductors, seized their phones, and moved them to another camp
until they were reunited with their families.
Zara now lives with her extended family and son in a town far away from Izge.
Her male relatives took over control of her life again, with
requests for interviews fielded by them and all of her movements
monitored by her family. But asked her opinion, she said she would rather be with her Boko Haram "husband".
"If I had my way, I would retrieve the phone number he gave me," she said, regretting not committing his number to memory.
But Zara is realistic and knows the possibility of being reunited with Ali is slim.
Instead she wants to return to school when Usman stops breast-feeding, and maybe then run her own business.
"I want to do a business that is suitable for a woman, something that will not take me out of the house," she said.
Source: ALJAZEERA
President Buhari has begun a short vacation from today, Feb. 5 to
February 10, 2016. A statement by Special Adviser to Buhari on Media and
Publicity, Femi Adesina, says that while Buhari is away, the Vice
President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo will perform the functions of the
President.
5 months pregnant mother of one, Habiba Shaba Ibrahim, who went missing on Saturday Jan. 30th in Abuja (read 