Some Chibok girls appear reluctant to go home

ABUJA, Nigeria—More than 100 of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls seem unwilling to return home, a Chibok community leader said today as the government continues to negotiate the release of another 83 girls from Boko Haram.

Pogu Bitrus, chairman of the Chibok Development Association, said the girls’ unwillingness to return home could stem from either the shame of marrying and having children with some of the extremists or because they were radicalized.

The Nigerian government last week secured the first release of 21 of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014. On Sunday, the girls reunited with family members in the capital city, Abuja, where they are receiving medical attention and trauma counseling.

“I never expected I will see my daughter again, and I pray that those girls still left behind that God will bring them out safely the way our own daughter came out alive,” said Raha Emmanuel, the mother of one of the released girls.

The Nigerian government has said it is currently negotiating the release of another 83 girls. Bitrus expressed concern over the stigma the girls might face back in their communities. The girls who fled from Boko Haram on their own left Chibok because of people labeling them as “Boko Haram wives,” Bitrus said.

The released girls told their parents Boko Haram had separated them into two groups, giving them the option to either convert to Islam or become slaves. The freed girls said they belonged to the group that refused to convert. Boko Haram used them as domestic workers and porters, but didn’t sexually assault them, Bitrus said. He called for the girls to be relocated away from their community to enable proper reintegration into society.

“We would prefer that they are taken away from the community and the country because the stigmatization is going to affect them for the rest of their lives,” Bitrus said. “Even someone believed to have been abused by Boko Haram would be seen in a bad light.”

Martin Ewi, a terrorism researcher with the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, South Africa, said it’s normal for some of the girls to have concerns about whether their communities would see them differently, but held some reservations about Bitrus’ statement.

“It’s logical to say some of the girls might fear to return home due to the fear of rejection from their community, but I wouldn’t think such a perception would be in a majority among the girls,” Ewi said.

He called for more investigation into the claims, saying the girls’ possible lack of cooperation could affect the rescue efforts.