Where is Amina Ali? Family demands news of Chibok girl who escaped Boko Haram

Lagos: Even family haven’t been able to see her. Nigeria’s Bring Back Our Girls movement is demanding that the government provide news of the only Chibok schoolgirl among 219 kidnapped to escape the clutches of Boko Haram Islamic extremists. “Even this morning people came to my house asking if I had been able to find out her whereabouts. It’s outrageous! Some people are crying!” Yakubu Nkeki, an uncle of Amina Ali Nkeki, told The Associated Press by telephone on Thursday. “We don’t understand why the government wants to keep her family away,” he said. Hunters found Ali last month wandering on the fringes of Boko Haram’s Sambisa Forest stronghold with her four-month-old baby and the father of the child, a Boko Haram fighter who she said helped her escape. [caption id=“attachment_2852802” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Amina Ali, the rescued Chibok school girl, in a file photo. AP [/caption] She was flown to the capital, Abuja, for a televised meeting at which President Muhammadu Buhari promised her the best care and rehabilitation. The Bring Back Our Girls movement says no one has seen her since. In a statement Wednesday night marking the 800th day of the mass abduction that outraged the world, Bring Back Our Girls also asked what the government is doing to try to rescue the other schoolgirls. “We are extremely disappointed with the evident lull in rescue actions and lack of any progress report,” said the statement signed by the movement’s founders Aisha Yesufu and Oby Ezekwesili. It said Ali has said some of the girls have died but most are alive, raising hopes they could still be rescued. Government, presidential and military officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Charities have accused Buhari’s government of exploiting Ali and politicizing her escape, for which the army tried to claim responsibility. Ali’s uncle said the last time he saw her, along with baby Safiyah, was in the office of the National Security Adviser at the presidential villa on 19 May. “We have had no credible information since, though I am told they are in the hands of the government,” he said. It had been presumed that Ali would be debriefed by state security agents for information that could lead to a rescue operation. Community leaders of the northeastern town of Chibok where the girls were abducted in 2014 said there are concerns Ali may be detained. They asked why her mother, who lives next door to Yakubu Nkeki, has not contacted other family members. They insisted on speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of angering officials. One problem could be that Ali has been insisting that she wants only to be reunited with Mohammed Hayyatu, the Boko Haram fighter she credits for her escape and the father of her child, according to a Borno state official. The official insisted on speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. Nigeria’s military has said that Hayyatu appeared to be a Boko Haram commander and is being held for interrogation. Bring Back Our Girls demanded the government prosecute Hayyatu for abduction and rape The Associated Press has been unable to establish the whereabouts of some other freed Boko Haram captives taken for alleged debriefing and counseling by the office of the National Security Adviser. They include Binta Ibrahim, whom US Ambassador Samantha Power has called a hero for saving three Christian children held with her in captivity by Boko Haram for 15 months. Soldiers have freed thousands of Boko Haram captives this year as they have recaptured large swaths of territory where Boko Haram had declared an Islamic caliphate.