Nigeria schoolgirl flees Boko Haram

Government says she is not one of Chibok abductees

ABUJA // A Nigerian schoolgirl kidnapped by Boko Haram has escaped from captivity, the government said yesterday. A presidential spokesman wrongly identified the girl on Wednesday as one of a group of about 270 girls abducted by the militant group in April 2014.

Yesterday, a tweet on the government’s official Twitter ac- count clarified that she was also taken from Chibok in that year but on a different occasion.

Nigeria’s vice president Yemi Osinbajo told a cabinet meeting in the capital Abuja on Wednesday that the schoolgirl “had been found after she escaped from her captors”, the presidential spokesman said.

“I learnt she is already being brought to Abuja,” he said, giving no further details.

Of the 270 girls originally kidnapped, about 60 escaped and more than 100 have been released. The rest are believed to be still in captivity.

Boko Haram’s insurgency has killed more than 20,000 people and displaced more than two million since 2009 in an attempt to create a caliphate in north-eastern Nigeria.

Three years ago, the abduction of the girls from their secondary school by Boko Haram sparked global outrage and a celebrity- backed campaign # bringbackourgirls.

For more than two years there was no sign of the girls. But the discovery of one of them with a baby last May raised hopes for their safety, with a further two girls found in later months and a group of 21 released by the militants in October. The government secured the release of another 82 girls on May 7 through a prisoner swap deal with the militants.

Although the Chibok girls are the most high-profile case, Boko Haram has kidnapped thousands of adults and children, many of whose cases are neglected, said aid organisations. The group often uses those captives, especially young girls and women, as suicide bombers.