Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Women Freed From Boko Haram Talk About Their Horrific Ordeal
Women Freed From Boko Haram Talk About Their Horrific Ordeal
Mar 19, 2026 5:23 AM

During the night of April 16, 2014, dozens of armed men from the jihadist group Boko Haram captured over 300 Christian girls aged 12 to 15 who were sleeping in dormitories at Chibok Government Girls Secondary School in northeast Nigeria.

Some of the kidnapped girlshave been forced into “marriage” with their Boko Haram abductors, sold for a nominal bride price of $12, according to parents who talked with villagers.All of the girls risked being forced into marriages or sold in the global market for human slaves.

The kidnappings were the focus of the ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ social media campaign that garnered much attention last year. What has received considerably less attention is the rescue of many of the women that had been kidnapped by the terrorist group.

Nigeria’s military said it has freed nearly 700 Boko Haram captives in the past week (though it’s still unclear how many—if any—of the “Chibok girls” were rescued). Many of the woman have begun to share stories about their horrific ordeal.

A woman named Musa was rescued from forced marriage to one of her husband’s killers:

“They took me so I can marry one of manders,” she said of the militants who carried her away from her village after slaughtering her husband and forcing her to abandon their three young children, whose fates remain unknown. That was five months ago in Lassa village.

“When they realized I was pregnant, they said I was impregnated by an infidel, and we have killed him. Once you deliver, within a week we will marry you to mander,” she said, tears running down her cheeks as she recalled her husband and lost children.

Musa gave birth to a curly-haired daughter the night before last week’s rescue.

As gunshots rang out, “Boko Haram came and told us they were moving out and that we should run away with them. But we said no,” she said from a bed in the camp clinic, a blanket wrapped around ankles so swollen that each step had been agony.

“Then they started stoning us. I held my baby to my stomach and doubled over to protect her,” she said, bending reflexively at the waist as though she still had to shield her newborn.

Sixteen-year-old Binta Ibrahim was caring for three children—one 2-year-old and two 4-year-olds—she found abandoned when she was kidnapped.

“They were so weak from lack of food that they couldn’t walk. There was nothing to do but rest when I couldn’t take another step, and then press ahead when I had recovered,” she said.

The children are Christian and Ibrahim is a Muslim. While Nigeria’s northeastern Islamic insurgency has polarized many of Nigeria’s people on religious lines, that was the last thing in Ibrahim’s big heart.

“I love them as if they are my own,” she said, striking her breast with both fists to show the depth of her love for the children, who were rescued with her and still remain in her care.

Reuters has put together a slideshow of images of the rescued women and children.

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse on The Glenn Beck Show
Acton Senior Fellow in Economics Jennifer Roback Morse made an appearance last night on The Glenn Beck Show on Headline News Network. The topic of conversation was “hookup culture” and the degraded sexual ethics of our culture. Dr. Morse is the author of Smart Sex: Finding Life-Long Love in a Hook-Up World. If you missed the show, the clip is below: ...
Methodist liberals attack hospitality of renewal groups
United Methodist renewal groups are under attack by liberal denominational leaders at General Conference for providing the gift of free cell phones for some international delegates who made the trip to Forth Worth, Texas. Opponents of the the evangelical renewal groups are afraid that the phones will be utilized to tell certain international delegates how to vote. A letter from the renewal groups supposedly included with the gift invited them to a breakfast, provided other General Conference news, and a...
The Deutsche Bank tragedies
The story of the Deutsche Bank building following the NYC 9/11 attacks is a study in bureaucratic petence…but more importantly it’s an ongoing experience in human tragedy and loss. There’s a great deal to sort out. This piece, “The tombstone at Ground Zero,” does a good job introducing the issues. The article begins with an introduction into the fire at the building site in August of last year: …Thick black smoke was pouring out of the shell of what used...
Utopia!
Continuing with my posts highlighting just how wonderful things will be here in the United States when the government finally does its job and takes over the healthcare sector of the economy, I’d like to bring your attention once again to the fabulous success story that is the Canadian health care system: Last year, the Canadian government issued a series of reports to address the outcry over long wait times for critical tests, procedures and surgeries. Over a two year...
The Final Countdown: 2 weeks left for schools to apply for the Catholic High School Honor Roll
How is the 80’s song “The Final Countdown” by the band Europe tied to sound Catholic secondary education? Surprisingly, it’s through Acton’s Catholic High school Honor Roll. After a short prayer, the below video shows the pep band for Xavier High School in Appleton, Wisconsin pumping up the crowd for its Honor Roll announcement this past Fall. After applying for the Honor Roll last year, the school earned a place among the Top 50 Catholic high schools in the United...
The slippery slope of Catholic ecology
: What I have found odd is that so many Catholics, especially female religious, should gravitate toward what appears to be essentially pantheism or what some eco-spirituality thinkers prefer to call “panentheism” (the universe as the “body of God”) when the Church has addressed the entire ecology question in a way that would, practically speaking, lead to the same results in terms of respect for the created order and sustainability. Indeed. Given the present direction ofCatholic movement on climate change,...
Catholic NGOs miss the boat on the food crisis
The recent dramatic rise of food prices reflects the worst agricultural crisis of the last 30 years, especially for developing countries whose citizens inevitably spend a larger portion of their es for basic needs. The list of countries facing social unrest as a result is long and growing: Cameroon, Egypt, Niger, Somalia, Ethiopia, Mauritania, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Haiti, Indonesia, Mexico, Argentina, and the Philippines. Consequences of these price increases are also affecting the United States, where rice is beginning to...
An advertising stimulus
One sector of the American public that hasn’t missed out on the government’s purpose for the economic stimulus package is the advertising and marketing industry. Savvy marketers are targeting sales and special offers to the federal rebate checks, which start to go out today. One sector of the economy especially banking on how people will spend their stimulus rebates is the automobile industry. Here, for instance, is a local car dealer’s ad specifically targeted to the stimulus package: I’ve seen...
Fundraising and the fungibility phenomenon
A fight broke out this week between non-profit groups over fundraising. While not in petition for donor dollars, the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance expressed its displeasure with Meijer, Inc. for participating in a fundraising event with the Humane Society of the United States. The program was set up to contribute money to a support Foreclosure Pets Fund, designed to give support to pet owners facing foreclosure. Meijer suspended the program after plaints from the Alliance that the chain was cooperating with...
The ethics of immigration
Sure to be a significant issue in the presidential campaign going forward, the question of immigration reform continues to divide otherwise like-minded religious folks. Mirror of Justice sage Michael Scaperlanda penned an article on the subject for First Things in February. A raft of letters upset with what the writers deemed Scaperlanda’s unreasonably lenient view toward illegal immigrants followed in the May issue (not accessible to non-subscribers), along with an article-length exchange between Scaperlanda and attorney William Chip. Scaperlanda’s initial...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved