Nigerian Police Offer $300,000 Reward for Missing Girls

On Wednesday, Nigeria announced that there will be a reward given to anyone who can help in locating and rescuing the missing school girls of Chibok and Warabe, according to the BBC.

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Nigeria’s police says that it will give $300,000 to anyone who can facilitate returning nearly 300 teen girls to their homes.

Just when it seemed that both parents and concerned citizens had reached a dead end in locating the students, who were abducted as they were taking exams at Government Secondary School, Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram took responsibility on Monday for the unconscionable crime.

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Since then, there have been daily updates to the missing school girls’ case, with another eight girls being abducted in the village of Warabe Monday night.

By Tuesday, Nigeria — to the relief of many — accepted help from the United States.

Also this week, an unnamed student who was fortunate enough to escape shortly after the school girls’ capture, spoke to the press about the sordid events that happened on April 15th, shedding light on the abduction.

According to the 16-year-old, the students heard gunfire in the distance as they were taking exams. Soon after, a group of men in uniform burst in to their school, saying, “Don’t worry, we’re soldiers. Nothing is going to happen to you.”

Initially relieved, the girls followed orders to gather outside, but when the men began stealing food, setting fire to the school, and yelling, then it became clear whom they were dealing with.

“They … started shouting, ‘Allahu Akhbar,’ (God is great). And we knew.”

The Associated Press reports:

“What they knew was chilling: The men were not government soldiers at all. They were members of the ruthless Islamic extremist group called ‘Boko Haram.’ They kidnapped the entire group of girls and drove them away in pickup trucks in to the dense forest.”

The 16-year-old then recalled how she was able to get away: Once their truck broke down, she — and 50 others — jumped from the truck and ran in to the forest amid chaos and arguing.

“Others argued,” the 16-year-old remembered. “But one student said, ‘We should go! Me, I am coming down. They can shoot me if they want but I don’t know what they are going to do with me otherwise.'”

The Associated Press reports:

“As they jumped, the car behind started up. Its lights came on. The girls did not know if the fighters could see them, so they ran into the bush and hid.

“’We ran and ran, so fast,’ said the girl, who has always prided herself on running faster than her six brothers. ‘That is how I saved myself. I had no time to be scared, I was just running.’

“A few other girls clung to low-hanging branches and waited until the vehicles had passed. Then they met up in the bush and made their way back to the road. A man on a bicycle came across them and accompanied them back home.”

While the escaped girls were met with tears of joy, the rest of the Mothers, Fathers, and siblings who are yet to find their family members continue to cry with empty arms and empty hearts.

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