Following reports, Wednesday, that one of the 276 Chibok School girls abducted on April 14, 2014 by the Islamist group, Boko Haram has been found, controversy however emanated as to the real name of the girl.
While the activist who found the girl gave her name as Amina Ali, the Nigerian army, in a confirmatory statement issued on Wednesday, May 18, 2016 gave her name as Falmata Mbalala.
“This is to confirm that one of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls… was among rescued persons by our troops,” army spokesman Colonel Sani Usman said in a statement.
Usman gave the girl’s name as Falmata Mbalala and said she was found in Baale, near the town of Damboa, which is 90 kilometres (56 miles) southwest of the Borno state capital, Maiduguri.
However, a youth Leader in Chibok town said the girl was presented to the community leader as Amina Ali but when she was later taken to her school, the vice principal recognized her name in the school’s register as Aisha Ali.
According to Manaseh Allan, a Chibok youth leader, “The girl was found by local vigilantes in Kilakesa village on the edge of Sambisa Forest near Damboa.
“She was brought first to Chibok by the vigilantes who took her to the vice-principal of her school, who immediately identified her as Aisha Ali, which is her name in the school register.
“She was presented to community leaders as Amina Ali but her name as it appears in the school register is Aisha Ali.
“It is common for children in Chibok to be called with one name in school and another at home.
“She met her parents, who recognised their daughter before she was taken to the military base in Damboa,”
Ayuba Alamson Chibok, a community leader in Chibok, told AFP. “Her father’s name is Ali and the girl’s name is Amina. I know the family very well because I have worked with them, being a spokesman for the families of the Chibok girls.” Yakubu Nkeki, head of the Abducted Chibok Girls Parents’ group, also confirmed her name and said she was 17 when she was abducted.
He added: “She’s the daughter of my neighbour… They brought her to my house.”
Tsambido Hosea Abana, a Chibok community leader in the capital, Abuja, from the BringBackOurGirls pressure group, also gave an identical account.
