First Lady Receives Rescued Chibok Girl, Rebecca Kabu, in State House

Deji Elumoye in Abuja 

Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has received Rebecca Kabu, one of the 277 Chibok schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram insurgents in 2014 who was rescued recently by security agencies in her office at the State House, Abuja.

The First Lady who welcomed Rebecca along with the Wife of the Vice President, Hajia Nana Shettima, promised to ensure that Rebecca was well taken care of medically and fit to return to school willingly.

Mrs Tinubu while assuring that the remaining Chibok girls in captivity are not forgotten, appreciated the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and other security agencies and those who facilitated Rebecca’s rescue.

She said: “Our dear daughter, Rebecca, I welcome you, I’ve been praying for you all night, it is well with you, what has happened to her is much trauma; words are inadequate for me to describe it.

“Cases of amnesia should be treated; it is difficult to get by, but since you are still here, God has plans for you. I thank the office of the NSA and NIA for not relenting and everyone that is assisting in her rehabilitation.

“Rebecca will be our first comeback story and returnee, she is our first fruit; she is a case I am quite interested in to see that she can go back to school at her own pace.’’

The First Lady disclosed that her NGO, Renewed Hope Initiative, is strongly working on how matured girls who are forced out of school can return to school for quality education.

She promised that Rebecca will be one of the first recipients of her benevolence.

According to her, the younger ones, if well educated, would be able to fit into the society and inherit the good legacies the older ones are leaving behind.

Mrs Tinubu said: “Earlier, I talked to the NSA representative about cases of alternative high school where girls like Rebecca can go back and learn at their pace, because education is important for her and others.

“They need education as tool for the market place, to be able to understand and manage the inheritance and legacies that shall be handed to them.

“We pray and continue to pray that all our children that are still with Boko Haram will come back home, we are waiting in earnest, we have not given up hope, I am sure that by the time she is reunited with her parents, she will be glad.

“With the governor waiting for her, she is in good hands”.

Responding, Rebecca, in her low voice, told the First Lady that she could barely understand English Language, but the first lady condoled her, saying she would overcome it.

Earlier in his speech, the Coordinator, Counter Terrorism Centre on the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), Rear Admiral Yaminu Musa, said Rebecca, kidnapped at age 13 in 2014 and now 22 years old, was rescued by the government security agencies on July 17, 2023.

According to him, the returnee has been certified medically and mentally fit to be reunited with her parents in Zana village in Borno state.

He said subsequently, the NSA’s office would follow up and present her case alongside the 15 other rehabilitated girls that were also rescued for Federal Government education support.

His words: “I’m here to present to you one of those our young ones that were kidnapped in 2014, we are lucky to have one of them back in our midst. Rebecca was kidnapped and abducted from her school in Chibok in 2014 by late Shekarau-led Boko Haram.

“She was rescued and repatriated from Cameroon on July 17,  and has completed intensive medical screening and physiological evaluation over the past two weeks by a team of medical and psychological experts between the office of NSA and the National Intelligence Agency.

“Rebecca has been found to be in good health and is psychologically stable; the next step is to hand her over to the Borno state Governor for onward reuniting with her family in Zana”.