Amina Ali, Girl Who Escaped From Boko Haram Clutches, Meets President Buhari
Amina Ali, the Chibok girl who escaped Boko Haram after spending more than two years as a prisoner, met with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa in Abuja Thursday, according to a CNN report.
During the emotional meeting, President Buhari held the baby Amina gave birth to while a captive of the terror group.
“Like all Nigerians and many others around the world, I am delighted that Amina Ali is free, but it is tinged with deep sorrow with what she had to go through,” Buhari said.
Amina was accompanied by her family and Borno State Gov. Kashim Shettima, whose residence she had visited the previous night.
Shettima had treated Amina, who was limping and severely malnourished when she arrived with her baby at his home, like a “VIP guest,” a state government official told CNN.
“She is receiving high-level medical attention and the best doctors in the state are attending to her. The governor ordered for her release from the military as he wanted to make sure she and her baby daughter received urgent medical and psychological attention,” he said.
The official added that the teenager, who was one of 276 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram two years ago, has been “completely detached” from the man who claimed to be her husband when they emerged from a forest Tuesday night.
He remains in military detention where he is being interrogated, the official said.
Amina was briefly reunited with her mother on Tuesday night at the family home in Mbalala before being held by the army, CNN learned.
A neighbor who witnessed the emotional meeting told CNN that her mother, Binta Ali, was very distressed when she first saw her daughter.
“The mom was very disturbed,” said the neighbor, who did not want to be named.
“She was full of happiness but at the same time seeing the situation of her daughter, who is a Christian, with a baby and a Boko Haram husband and wearing a hijab, she was just crying bitterly,” said the neighbor.
“Even Amina was comforting her mother saying she should be happy to see her alive. She was very happy to see her but she was also very sad.”