The first of 219 girls in Nigeria who have been missing for over two years was found Tuesday. BBC News reports she was found in the Sambisa Forest of northeast Nigeria by the Civilian Joint Task Force, which combats the Islamic militant group Boko Haram. Ever since Boko Haram kidnapped the girls from a boarding school in April 2014, people around the world have been using the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls to call for their return.
The Nigerian Army released a statement identifying the girl as Falmata Mbalala.
However, according to Nigerian chartered accountant Obiageli Ezekwesili, the girl was Amina Ali Nkek.
Nineteen-year-old Amina was from the town of Mbalala, along with 24 of the other kidnapped girls. One of her neighbors told the BBC that she was found with a baby, and her uncle said she was reunited with her mother. Sahara Reporters also reported that she was found with a baby, along with a husband from Boko Haram. According to Sahara Reporters, she said the other girls were either killed or married off to Boko Haram members.
During the kidnapping, gunmen raided the Government Girls Secondary School and captured over 300 students, some of whom escaped soon afterward. The kidnappers were members of Boko Haram, or The Congregation of the People of Tradition for Proselytism and Jihad, which aims to spread Sharia law in Nigeria and surrounding areas. The organization is against educating girls, and its leader, Abubakar Shekau, has threatened to sell the girls into slavery.
Michelle Obama, Malala Yousafzai, and others used the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls to press the Nigerian government to do something about the kidnapping.
The Nigerian government has claimed it is making an effort to find the missing girls, though this is the first we've seen of any of them outside videos released by Boko Haram. The president's wife Aisha Buhari presented the girls' mothers with checks on Tuesday as a consolation.
The Nigerian army did not immediately return Complex's request for comment.
