The newly-freed Chibok schoolgirl, Salomi Pogu, who was abducted by Boko Haram in 2014 but rescued last week, has given details of how she managed to escape from her captors.
Pogu, who was amongst over 200 school girls kidnapped by the militant group, is the latest of 107 girls to either escape, be rescued or freed.
The Nigerian Army said Pogu and another Boko Haram captive, Jamila Adamu, a 14-year-old teenager who was found with a baby, were rescued on January 4.
The two girls have now spoken exclusively to PREMIUM TIMES from a government safe-house where they are being accommodated by the Borno state government.
The girls said they regained their freedom after many months of trying to escape from their abductors.
Their narrative was that of two courageous young women from different backgrounds, bound by the same fate and determination to survive.
While Salomi was abducted at the age of 15, Jamila, the girl who later become her bosom friend said she was only 11 years old when Boko Haram abducted her from Pulka village of Gwoza local government, three years back.
The two girls had their share of unpleasant experiences under the captivity of one of the world’s deadliest terror groups.
Salomi met Jamila, who was abducted alongside her eldest sister, in 2015.
Except for their ability to speak Hausa, the two girls had nothing in common in terms of religion, native language and education.
Salomi, a Christian from Chibok, was in her final year in secondary school when she was seized, while Jamila, a Muslim from Gwoza, had never attended a school before she was taken captive.
After years of being with the Boko Haram fighters who subjected them to agony and slavery, the girls were married off and taken to a village called Ndugne under Gwoza local government area.
Before that, the girls said they were moved to different villages, where they would live for months, as their abductors tried to avoid being attacked by troops of the Nigerian military.
“We became friends with Salomi because we lived close to one another in the captured village of Ndugne,” said Jamila, who is still nursing a 16 months baby girl, Hasiya. Apparently poorly fed, the toddler looks like an eight-month-old.