Ten years after Boko Haram gunmen kidnapped his daughter from her college within the Nigerian city of Chibok, Yama Bullum feels as if he has misplaced her as soon as once more.
His daughter, Jinkai Yama, was one of many 276 women kidnapped from the secondary college within the early hours of April 14, 2014 by Islamist fighters.
Fifty-seven of them escaped quickly after. Then between 2016 and 2018, a further 108 have been rescued by the army or launched by means of negotiations.
Ninety-one others stay lacking, however Ms Yama is one in every of 20 “Chibok women” rescued previously two years from Boko Haram hideouts within the Sambisa Forest in northeastern Borno state, the epicenter of the 15-year rebellion.
However her father was outraged to find that, like a number of the different not too long ago freed ladies, she determined to remain married to one of many fighters who as soon as held her prisoner.
These {couples} now reside within the metropolis of Maiduguri – the capital of Borno, 125 km (78 miles) north of the distant city of Chibok – in a spot organized by the governor of the state Babagana Umaru Zulum.
“I'm not proud of what the governor did. The ladies managed to get out of the woods and the governor bought married once more. Their mom could be very indignant,” stated Mr. Bullum.
She discovered when her daughter referred to as to inform her final August – and he or she handed over the telephone to ask to talk to her husband, the previous rebel.
Till then, Mr Bullum had assumed she was with different launched Chibok prisoners and their three youngsters in a particular welfare programme.
Like quite a few different Chibok mother and father, Mr Bullum is troubled by what seems to be the Nigerian authorities's approval of marriages between his rescued daughters and the lads who kidnapped them.
Permitting the freed ladies to stay with their former captors as wives, whereas their lodging is offered by the federal government, is perceived by the mother and father as Governor Zulum sacrificing his daughters within the seek for stability within the area
They see these marriages as a option to appease the previous militants.
A lot of the women taken from the Chibok college have been Christians.
The most recent information of the continued “marriages” has additionally upset mother and father whose youngsters have been compelled to transform to Islam throughout captivity.
“Some folks in Chibok are saying, 'How is it attainable after the rescue of the ladies that they nonetheless stay within the Muslim religion?'” stated Yakubu Nkeki, president of the Chibok mother and father' affiliation.
The state appears to be confronted with the dilemma of respecting the desires of the ladies whereas fulfilling the desires of their mother and father.
“My solely concern is that we don't need these women to return to the bush once more,” Borno Governor Zulum instructed me.
“Even earlier than they arrive out [of the Sambisa Forest]a few of them have given us situations – that they won’t come with out their husbands.”
One in all these ladies, Aisha Graema, instructed me that she wouldn’t have left the forest if she couldn’t be with the militant she married two years after being kidnapped from the Chibok college.
“We've been married for eight years,” stated the mom of three.
“I first went out of the forest after which he adopted me. There within the bush, we’ve no family, no brother, no sister, so we determined to exit.
“He completed the deradicalization earlier than we have been allowed to remain collectively. The federal government welcomed us properly, gave us meals, shelter, the whole lot.”
One other lady from Chibok, Mary Dauda, defined to me that she wouldn’t have been in a position to escape from Sambisa with out her husband, who helped her escape from the militants.
“We agreed that he’ll be part of me later and current himself to the governor for rehabilitation,” the 27-year-old stated.
Hajj Camp in Bulumkutu is the primary rehabilitation camp for former Boko Haram fighters and their long-term prisoners, the place they’re taken immediately after their rescue.
After spending weeks in rehabilitation, the lads have been reintegrated into society beneath the federal government's ongoing amnesty program for repentant Boko Haram members. This has thus far handled about 160,000 folks, in keeping with Mr. Zulum.
The welfare of the 20 most not too long ago launched Chibok women is beneath the mandate of Zuwaira Gambo, the Borno state commissioner for girls's affairs and social growth, who insists the ladies have been by no means compelled to stick with their spouses.
“They’re those who insisted that with out their husbands, they won’t keep in Maiduguri,” Mrs Gambo stated.
“I requested, 'How will you need to stick with this man who destroyed your life?' and so they stated, 'You received't perceive.'
Somewhat than returning the {couples} to the forest, he stated the authorities are on the lookout for a distinct path.
The 20 ladies – together with 31 youngsters – have been moved to a secure facility in an prosperous space of Maiduguri. Seven are with their Boko Haram husbands; a number of the others are engaged with the previous fighters who met in Bulumkutu.
Coaching is obtainable to ladies in expertise reminiscent of tailoring and pc literacy.
They share a big mansion, surrounded by expansive grounds the place they collect on mats beneath timber to speak whereas their youngsters play within the sand.
Every couple is supplied with their very own room.
Freed Chibok women are usually not alone in wanting to stick with their Boko Haram husbands.
A 16-year-old lady instructed me in 2016 that if she had a gun, she would have shot the troopers who got here to rescue her captivity.
Specialists attribute this to many components, together with the sense of belonging fostered by being a part of the rebel group, indoctrination into their extremist beliefs, the event of romantic attachments over time and the formation of household ties, significantly once they have youngsters collectively.
Additionally, acts of kindness and care, reminiscent of giving items, from their captors can contribute to those emotions.
“These folks took time to persuade themselves that what that they had recognized earlier than was the incorrect means,” stated Fatima Akilu, a psychologist who labored with many launched prisoners taken in her coaching years.
However the scenario of the Chibok women stands out due to the federal government's lively help for them and their husbands who stay collectively.
Governor Zulum believes it will encourage these nonetheless in Sambisa to come back out of hiding.
The chairman of the Affiliation of Mother and father of Lacking Women from Chibok says he finds himself torn between the grievances of fogeys and the rights of younger ladies.
“The ladies instructed me they will't do with out their husbands,” Mr Nkeki stated.
“I, myself, am a freedom fighter and I would like them to be free from the Sambisa Forest, whatever the scenario they discover themselves in once they come out, whether or not they’re Muslim or married or not.”
He stated he was urgently summoned to the childhood house of Saratu Dauda, one of many not too long ago rescued Chibok women, final 12 months throughout a heated argument between her and her mother and father relating to their choice to remain married to her former captor.
“They stated, 'Come hear what this lady has to say. You referred to as for them to be launched, however have a look at how they behave.” I instructed them that it was not their fault, that they need to be affected person.”
Aisha Muhammed-Oyebode of the activist group Deliver Again Our Women and head of the Murtala Muhammed Basis, which helps each the mother and father and the launched women, believes that issues like this might have been prevented if the federal government had been higher ready with plans full for women upon their launch.
“Not having a construction round a lot of these conditions is what causes any such chaos,” he stated.
After the household's explosive argument, Mrs. Dauda minimize brief her go to to Chibok and returned to Maiduguri. Her father is so upset that he has chosen to not take part within the mother and father' affiliation or any occasion commemorating the abductors' anniversary this 12 months.
This consists of the annual assembly of fogeys of all kidnapped, free and lacking schoolgirls held on the college premises.
Ms. Yama can be estranged from her household. At any time when they attempt to contact her, her husband solutions her telephone as an alternative.
The 29-year-old refused to reply my questions in regards to the scenario, saying that her relationship together with her mother and father is no one's enterprise and the way joyful she is that her kidnapping led to her discovering the “true faith “.
His clearly distressed father stated, “He desires nothing to do with us.”
Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani is a Nigerian freelance journalist and novelist, based mostly in Abuja and London.
