Amnesty International on Tuesday disclosed that Boko Haram has abducted at least 2,000 women and girls since the inception of last year.
The international human rights organization has revealed that 38 cases of abduction by the terrorists group, based on eyewitnesses accounts as well as those who eventually escaped have been recorded.
It said, “It is difficult to estimate how many people have been abducted by Boko Haram,” Amnesty said in the report.
“The number of women and girls is likely to be higher than 2,000.”
Speaking on the Chibok girls, the organization said a senior military source had disclosed that they have now been split into three or four groups and held at different Boko Haram camps.
It said some of the victims have remained in its Sambisa Forest stronghold in Borno state, others could be found around Lake Chad, in the Gorsi mountains in Cameroon while about 70 other girls may have been taken to Chad.
Amnesty reports revealed new testimony to Boko Haram’s use of mass kidnapping, cataloguing the constant seizure of young women and girls, as well as the forced recruitment of men and boys into their fold.
Some of the victims of the sect who were interviewed recounted that they were being held in terrible conditions as well as in overcrowded prisons, and being forced into Islamic marriage.
A human rights activist who spoke with more than 80 abducted women and girls after their escape said in 23 cases, they had been raped either before arrival at camps or after forced marriage.
One 19-year-old woman and a victim said: “I was raped several times when I was in the camp. Sometimes five of them. Sometimes three, sometimes six.
“It went on for all the time I was there. It always happened in the night… Some were even my classmates from my village. Those who knew me were even more brutal to me.”
Amnesty has requested that Boko Haram be investigated for war crimes and crimes against humanity. In its estimate, more than 4,000 people were killed in 2014 and at least, 1,500 civilians were killed in the first three months of this year.
DAILY POST recalls that one of the major security threat in Nigeria as at today is the issue of Boko Haram insurgency and the inability of the Nigerian government to tackle headlong the menace. It was exactly one year yesterday since the over 200 Chibok schoolgirls were kidnapped.
The Nigerian government and the military had earlier said that it was aware of where the girls were kept, however in its renewed tactics against the insurgents, the girls and other women and children kidnapped by the insurgents are yet to be released.
President Goodluck Jonathan had earlier promised that the Chibok girls would be rescued in the renewed military onslaught. Jonathan will be handing over to the President-Elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari on May 29 and it remains unclear if he will be able to rescue the girls and other victims before then.
The President-Elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari said on Monday that the Chibok girls will be rescued by his government. While marking the Chibok girls one-year in captivity, Gen. Buhari said: “Today, we remember the kidnapping of 276 girls from a school in Chibok one year ago. This crime has rightly caused outrage both in Nigeria and across the world.
“Today is a time to reflect on the pain and suffering of the victims, their friends and families. Our thoughts and prayers, and that of the whole Nigerian Nation, are with you today.
“I want to assure all of them, and particularly the parents, that when my new Administration takes office at the end of May, we will do everything we can to defeat Boko Haram. We will act differently from the Government we replace: we hear the anguish of our citizens and intend to respond accordingly.
“This new approach must also begin with honesty. We do not know if the Chibok girls can be rescued. Their whereabouts remain unknown. As much as I wish to, I cannot promise that we can find them.
‘’But I say to every parent, family member and friend of the children that my Government will do everything in its power to bring them home.
