Doubts raised over identity of second rescued Chibok girl

There are doubts hanging over the identity of a girl rescued by Nigeria’s military on Thursday, said to be one of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls.

Serah Luka, was rescued by the military together with some 95 women and children around Damboa in northeastern Nigeria during a military operation.

The rescue comes after the first of the 219 girls still missing was rescued by Nigeria’s military and a civilian vigilante group in the Sambisa forest.

But the head of the Chibok Abducted Girls Parents group, Yakubu Nkeki is not convinced Serah Luka is one of the abducted girls.

First, he said the military did not contact him to identify the girl as they had done when they rescued Amina Ali Nkeki on Wednesday.

Quite apart from that, Nkeki said there are only two girls bearing the Luka surname on the list of missing girls but none bore the name Serah. They are Kauna Yana Luka and Kuka Dzaka Naomi.

Nkeki also disputed claims by Serah Luka that she was the daughter of a priest. He explained that “we have four priests on the list of parents and none of them bears the name Luka”.

Another source of doubt over Serah’s identity is that she said she was originally from Madagali in Adamawa state but again, Yakubu Nkeki says none of the abducted girls were from Madagali.

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A senior military source however told AFP that: “The soldiers who carried out the operation, the militia that helped, and those who know this girl confirmed that she was among the kidnapped girls.”

Amina Ali Nkeki who was rescued earlier this week, met with the Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday.

The president promised the government will do everything possible to help reintegrate her into the society as well as ensure that she continues her education.

AFP