Naomi Adamu was 24 when she and more than 200students
were taken off into Boko Haram's Sambisa forest hideout in north-eastern
Nigeria in 2014.
While in captivity, the girls were given exercise books for the Koranic classes they were made to attend. some of the girls used these to keep secret diaries. When the militants found out, they were forced to burn the books.
Ms Adamu managed to hide hers. She and
her close friend, 20 year old Sarah Samuel, and three other girls used the
books to chronicle some of their experiences.
Here are 10 of the many disclosures. provided by BBC.COM
1) Kidnap was not the plan
The militants who attacked the Chibok
school on 14 April 2014 had come with the intention of stealing an
"engine block", the diary notes. It is not clear what piece of machinery
they wanted - there had been some construction work at the school a few
weeks earlier, so it may have been the machine used for moulding cement
blocks, which can also be used for constructing crude weapons, or they
may have been after an engine block from a vehicle.
But when it could not be found, they
argued over what to do with the students they had gathered in groups.
After considering a number of gory options, they decided to take the
girls with them.
"They started argument in their midst. So one small boy said that
they should burn us all and they said, 'No let us take them with us to
Sambisa.' Another person said, 'No let's not do that. Let's lead them...
to their parent homes.' As they were in argument, then one of them
said, 'No, I can't come with empty car and go back with empty car... If
we take them to [Abubakar] Shekau [Boko Haram's leader], he will know
what to do.'"
2) A telltale prevented escape
Some girls were loaded into the
militants' vehicle at the school while the majority were made to walk at
gunpoint for miles, until several trucks arrived to ferry them away.
Who wrote the diaries?
- Main diarists: Naomi Adamu and Sarah Samuel
- Rhoda Peter, Saratu Ayuba and Margaret Yama made smaller contributions
- Four of them were freed in May 2017, after negotiations
- Sarah Samuel agreed to marry a militant last year and remains in captivity
On their way to Boko Haram's forest hideout,
when some students began escaping by jumping off the trucks, one of the
kidnapped girls alerted their abductors - perhaps out of fear of being
left alone, or a propensity to obey whoever is in authority, or the
desire to have company in misery.
"Then one girl in the car said, 'Driver, some girls are jumping to
escape.' Then the driver opened the door of the car then searched for
them with the torch but didn't find anyone. So they said to them that
they should stay [in] one place, that if they jump down again, if they
saw her or any they will shoot her."
3) Cruel tricks
The militants played a number of cruel
tricks on the kidnapped girls, including pretending that their parents
had been captured by Boko Haram. On one occasion, they separated the
Christian girls from those who were Muslim and threatened to burn those
who would not convert to Islam with petrol.
"Then they came to us and said, 'Those who are Muslim, it is time
for prayer.' After they had prayed, [they said], 'Those who are Muslim,
let them be on one side and those who are Christian let them too be on
one side.'
"Then we saw jerrycan in the car so we thought it was petrol. Then
they said, 'Who and how many of you will turn to Muslim.' So many of us,
because of fear, some of us stand up and went inside... So [they said],
'The rest that remain you want to die, is that why you don't want to be
Muslim? We are going to burn you...' Then they give us that jerrycan
which we thought it was petrol. It is not petrol, it is water."
4) Militant anger over rape claims
Some of the Chibok girls have stated in
previous interviews that they were not sexually abused or forced into
marriage - although they were sometimes whipped to persuade them to
marry. Some girls were also taken as official concubines.
The diaries show that the militants were
livid about insinuations in the media that they were raping the girls.
The group's leader, Abubakar Shekau, ranted about this a number of
times, first in a recorded message that was played to the girls.
"Then in the night, they gathered us and preached to us and put
[on] a cassette. They said that cassette is from their master Mr
Abubakar Shekau.... So he said that just because of they kidnapped us to
come and teach us the way of God, then your parents and the government
and your principal are crying to us and saying that we are raping you
and are doing bad, bad things to you… We brought you to teach you the
way of Allah."
5) Hijabs against temptation
The militants pleaded with the girls to
not lead them into temptation, encouraging them to always keep their
bodies covered in a hijab.
"He opened the Koran and started reading it, then he read one place
that said anybody which they kidnap on the fight of jihad, it is your
own, whatever you like, you will do with that person... But we that they
give us hijab is that they don't want to see our body, which will make
them to sin and do what is very bad."
6) Marriage proposals
The marriage proposals from militants were frequent and forceful.
"One girl wanted to go inside the room and pick something, then
Malam Ahmed [one of the militants] went and met her and asked her about
marriage. Then she said, 'No.' He asked her, 'And so what is your own
decision about this marriage?'
"Then she said that no, they kidnapped her from GGSS [Government
Girls Secondary School] Chibok and brought her to Sambisa and now they
are talking to her about marriage. How will she get married - after all
her mother and her father and her aunties and the rest of her
colleagues, they don't even know… Then she asked him, if she says no -
that she will not get married, she will only stay and follow her God
alone, is it not good? Then he said, 'No, it is bad.'"
Some were pressured to change their mind.
"We saw the people come in two Hilux [vans]. Then they came asking
for those who want to get married. They asked us and said anybody who
accepts Muslim religion… must get married if truly she holds the
religion with two hands. They gave us 30 minutes to give them their
answer but we kept quiet. Then we stayed for an hour but nobody answered
them."
Naomi Adamu told me that those
who refused to get married were treated as slaves: "Every day, they beat
us. They tell us to marry and if you refuse, they will beat you. We
will wash cloth, fetch water, do everything for their wives. We were
slaves."
7) Escapees returned by villagers
Despite the global Bring Back Our Girls
campaign, which saw the involvement of celebrities like former US First
Lady Michelle Obama, some people in surrounding communities wanted no
part in bringing back the girls, and returned some of the girls when
they managed to escape.
"There is another day that some girls ran. They tried to escape but
they couldn't. So those people arrested them. The way they arrested
them was they entered into a shop and asked them to help them and give
them water and biscuit. So, the people asked them, 'Who are you and
where did you come from?' The girls said, 'We are those that the BH
kidnapped from GGSS [Government Girls Secondary School], Chibok.' So,
one of the people said, 'Are these not Shekau's children?'
"So they gave them good food to eat and a place to sleep and the
next day, they returned them to our place... As they brought them to
Sambisa at night, they whipped them and said that they are going to cut
off their necks."
8) Conversion blame game
The girls were told that they would be
allowed to go home to their families if they all, with no exception,
agreed to convert to Islam. Those who agreed to convert then blamed the
girls who refused for their continued captivity.
"They said that those that do not accept Muslim religion are [like]
sheep and cows and goat... they will kill them... Then Malam Abba [one
of the militants] said those that who did not accept Muslim religion,
they should be on one side, let them not enter into those who have
become Muslim. So he told us to stay aside - that they are going to
arrange another place for them. Another person said no, that let us stay
together. As they left, one week later, the rest of us said that we
that did not become Muslim, we are those who are stopping ourselves from
going home."
9) How videos were filmed
Boko Haram released several videos about the Chibok girls. This is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of one of them.
"Then there is a day before this, they came and… [filmed] about 10
girls under the Tamarind tree. They called them one by one and asked
them about their name and the name of their parents and then they [film
us] and said, 'Did we hurt you in any way.' We said, 'No.' They told us
to tell our parents and the government what they are doing to us. The
government and our parents are saying that they are raping us and
disturbing us.
"So they called out one of us and asked her, 'Since we kidnapped
you and brought you to this place, have we ever slept with or raped
you?' She answered, 'No.' He asked her again... 'I will like you to let
you show to your parents and the government what we have offered you and
how we are taking good care of you.'"
10) Militants followed the news closely
The videos were sometimes filmed straight after the militants listened to the news.
"They stayed a little while and listened to the BBC [Hausa
service]. As they finished listening to the radio, they called us one by
one. They told some to stand and some to kneel and some to sit so they
[filmed] us and told us to read. Then we read from [Islamic text]."
What's happened to the diarists?
Naomi Adamu and three other diarists - Rhoda Peter, Saratu Ayuba and Margaret Yama - were released in May.
In September, the government sent them to study at the American University of Nigeria in the north-eastern town of Yola.
SOURCE: BBC.COM
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