I’m scared to tell my daughter that her mother is dead, says father of Chibok girl

Yama Pogu, one of the fathers of the recently released Chibok girls, has revealed that his wife died a month after their daughter’s abduction alongside 275 others by the Boko Haram insurgent group.

But he says he is not ready to tell the daughter – who he identified as Margaret – about the loss of her mother “as she has already passed through a lot”.

According to The Nation, he said this on Saturday shortly after the parents’ arrival to meet with the 82 Chibok girls.

Pogu, a retired police officer, revealed that his wife had died of heartbreak “as she could not bear the thought of losing their only daughter”.

But he is “scared” of his daughter’s reaction when she hears about the sad news.

“I cannot describe to you how I feel right now because some of the girls are yet to be rescued, if all the girls where back, then we would have been able to say our mind without fear but the girls still in captivity are still our daughters so right now,” he said.

“All I have to say is that we are grateful to the federal government and Shekau, for allowing the government meet and come to an understanding that returned our daughters to us.

“My wife died within a month of our daughters’ abduction because so I don’t want to talk so much about it because it still hurts. My daughter was abducted over three years and two months ago but since God has brought her out safely, I have nothing else to say than my gratitude.

“After the girls abduction, only God knows the effort we put in and the bushes that we entered in our search for the girls but we always returned empty handed.

“All of us parents went into the bush and searched for them but it was bigger than us, if I say that I am going to talk about what these statements means, I don’t know what might happen, I already came before now and said everything that their is to say.

“But you see my daughter Margaret was her mother’s only daughter, only boys. So after she was taken, her mother was heart broken and could not bear the thought of it, so that is why I don’t want to talk so much about it, I don’t want my daughter to hear of her mother’s death.

“I am not going to tell her of her mother’s death, she has already gone through a lot as it is, I am scared of what might happen if I break such a news to her, I will wait until the rest are back and she is strong enough to tell her.”