Story making the rounds says one of the female students, identified as Susan, who was abducted by the Boko Haram sect from Government Secondary School, Chibok, in Borno State in April, was found by the Police in the early hours of Wednesday in Mubi, Adamawa State, two days after she was thrown off a truck that was being used by insurgents to escape from Nigerian troops.
A senior Police officer in Mubi confirmed that the girl was dropped off near the Divisional Police Headquarters in Mubi by locals who discovered her.
According to him, when the girl was found, she was incoherent, and had scars and injuries all over her body because she had been battered by her assailants, and left by the road by locals near the Police station. The police officer said Susan is one of the 219 Chibok girls, whose abduction had attracted the attention of the international community and a global coalition to find and rescue them.
He said the girl had old and fresh wounds and scars all over her body, with swollen legs because she had walked a long distance for two days after being thrown off the truck by her abductors.
"She had old and fresh wounds and her legs were swollen, may be because she trekked a long distance, and you could see marks on her body where she was mercilessly beaten by her abductors, I believe," the senior Police officer volunteered.
A witness, identified as Mallam Musa said that the Police yesterday morning found a young girl stranded on the road, near the Police station. He said the girl had fresh and old wounds on her body, adding that she had obviously been beaten and maltreated.
Musa said the young girl might have walked from Sambisa Forest, the enclave of the dreaded Boko Haram insurgents, which transverses Adamawa and Borno States.
Efforts to reach the Nigerian Army Public Relations Officer, Captain Nuhu Jefaru of the 23 Amoured Brigade, Yola, allegedly proved abortive, while the Public Relation Officer of the Police Command in Yola, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Michael Haa, said he was yet to receive any information on the freed school girl.
However, the leader of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) group and former Minister of Education, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, in elated late night tweets, confirmed the discovery of Susan tweeting from her twitter handle @obyezeks at 11.17 pm, Ezekwesili announced the news of Susan's rescue.
This came barely three hours after Ezekwesili had granted an interview to Aljazeera about the missing girls and the struggles of the BBOG group.
She wrote: "After the emotional upheaval of yesterday's (Tuesday) dashed hopes, today came with the factual return of one of our 219 #ChibokGirls. She's in trauma.
"One #ChibokGirl, miraculously found in a bush by locals and returned today, is confirmed by Chibok parents with her in Yola. Incredible!
"It is hard to comprehend the return of Susan who is yet incoherent. The locals that found her took her to Mubi Police and now moved to Yola.
"The eternal optimist that I am makes me see the return of Susan as a good sign for the rest of our 219 Chibok daughters. They shall return!!
"One hopes that our security/military would approach Susan's return in a way that helps us learn more in the next couple of days."
Giving more insight into Susan's discovery, another member of the BBOG group, Ms. Hadiza Usman, informed THISDAY that the young girl was traumatised and incoherent when she was found by the Police in Mubi.
She revealed that one of the Chibok parents travelled to Mubi and identified her, adding, "She has been moved from the Mubi police station to the Yola Police Command, following which she would be taken to the hospital this morning."
She said the authorities tried to stabilise her so she could be debriefed, expressing hope that Susan's release would give the security agencies some insight as to where other Chibok students who were kidnapped with her are held captive.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian military yesterday confirmed the killing of Shekau's imposter after a fierce battle for the control of the key town of Konduga.
Konduga is 35 kilometres from Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, and was repeatedly attacked by Boko Haram terrorists this month as they tried to take over Maiduguri in their bid to carve out an Islamic Caliphate.
Making this known during a press briefing at the DHQ in Abuja, the Director of Defence Information (DDI), Major-General Chris Olukolade, gave the real identity of the downed terrorist leader, who appeared in the Boko Haram videos as Shekau's double, as Mohammed Bashir.
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