500 Nigerian School Girls Rescued From Boko Haram

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.