July 02, (THEWILL) – Ruth Bitrus, one of the Chibok schoolgirls, abducted by Boko Haram terrorists on April 14, 2014, has shared how she escaped from captivity after eight years.
The insurgents had stormed the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, where they whisked away over 200 girls who were writing their final exams at the time.
Having fled the terrorists’ enclave in Borno State, she was eventually discovered by troops of the Nigerian Army on June 29.
Narrating her ordeal to newsmen, Ruth said she trekked for three days inside Sambisa Forest before help came to her by troops of the 21 Armoured Brigade Bama.
“My name is Ruth Bitrus, I escaped from the Sambisa Forest. I am one of the students kidnapped from GGSS, Chibok, in April 2014. We were 203 that were kidnapped. The rest of us are still in Sambisa with our captors”, she spoke in the Hausa language, adding that she took some food with her, which she used in feeding the child within the three-day period.
Ruth said her husband was killed by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), while he was trying to plant a bomb.
“The father of my child died two years ago in Rabul Sani village, where he went to plant a bomb at the military formation and it exploded with him before he could plant it”, she said.
She was rescued two weeks after troops intercepted two of her colleagues – Mary Dauda and Hauwa Joseph, after they escaped from Gazuwa camp, located about nine kilometres to Bama LGA of Borno State.
Their escape followed sustained massive offensives by the troops of Operation Hadin Kai, leading to hunger and displacement in the terrorists’ enclaves.
Of the over 200 schoolgirls abducted by the terrorists in 2014, more than 100 of them are still unaccounted for, eight years after their kidnap.
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