I thought my friends would never return, says Chibok girl who escaped from Boko Haram

Rebecca Ishaku, a student of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno state, says she was scared that her friends would have been killed after more than two years of their kidnap.

In an interview with BBC, Ishaku said that she was very happy when she heard of the return of 21 girls.

“I was very happy; that day was a day of joy and happiness for me to have my friends back,” she said.

“At some point, I thought they would never come back… that maybe they have been killed by now, but I dreamt that they came back.”

Ishaku was among the students who were originally kidnapped in April 2014 but she managed to escape from their abductors after she jumped off a truck hours after the ordeal.

She encouraged her colleagues to move on with their lives and try to put the past behind them.

“I recognise Agnes, she was a close friend,” she said.

“When I see them, I will tell them that what has happened has happened. They need to forget everything so that they will think about their future so that they will not remain in the situation they are.

“We have not forgotten about the rest because it is only 21 that are back. We have to keep demanding for the return of the others.”

Twenty-one of the girls regained their freedom from Boko Haram militants on Thursday after more than two years in captivity.