WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Christian mother of one of the estimated 218 Chibok schoolgirls who remain in the clutches of the jihadist group Boko Haram after being kidnapped from Nigeria’s Borno state more than two years ago told Breitbart News Saturday that her faith in God has helped and consoled her through the ongoing ordeal.
Her 15-year-old daughter was among the estimated 276 girls who were kidnapped from the Government Girls Secondary School in the Chibok region of Borno during the April 14, 2014 raid by the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL)-linked jihadist group that received global attention.
The mother has become the first parent of a Chibok girl to travel outside Nigeria to speak out about the mass abduction.
“We don’t have any support from anywhere, but God is there to support us and he’s there to assist us,” the mother, who used the pseudonym “Mary” to protect her identity, told Breitbart News Saturday host Matt Boyle while in the United States. “And I have faith in him that…as we are crying [and] praying for the girls every minute, every second, every hour, we will rejoice again one day when he…win[s] the battle” to liberate the girls.
“The God of Christians is alive and he’s there on the throne and he’s working on it and he will keep working on it,” she declared, referrin to the rescue of the hostages, later adding, “We have faith in him. As he has saved the children of Israel from the land of Egypt, that’s how he will see us through.”
About 57 girls were able to escape almost immediately after being taken and only one, Amina Ali Nkeki, has been rescued since.
Boko Haram terrorized Christians and has burned down their places of worship, Mary, whose daughter turned 18 last Wednesday, told Breitbart News Saturday.
She noted that between 15 and 20 parents of the kidnapped girls, many of whom are reportedly Christian, have been killed since the abduction.
Earlier this week, she shared details of the kidnappings, and the nightmare that has ensued, during a panel discussion in Washington, D.C., hosted by the Heritage Foundation and organized by the religious freedom group 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative.
During the event, Mary, a self-identified Christian whose daughter turned 18 last Wednesday, urged the international community to pray for the captured schoolgirls and their families.
“We really need your prayers if our girls will be found,” she proclaimed. “[I hope] you will help us also to rescue the lives of the dying mothers. We have many parents on their sickbed — some have been psychologically affected, some have spinal cord problems and can’t even stand and walk.”
“To all who have said prayers, thank you all. It is needed and is really helping us,” she continued.
Up six of the captured girls are believed to be dead, also said Mary, adding that about half of the captured young women have been married off to Boko Haram jihadists and now reside in various villages.
Meanwhile, the unmarried girls remain in the Sambisa Forest, a Boko Haram-stronghold in Nigeria’s northeast that has long been the suspected location of the missing girls.
During her visit to the United States, Mary told the Christian Broadcasting Network that she suspects local government officials knew about the terrorist group’s plan to kidnap the girls.
Mary reportedly has four other children who, along with the children of other families, are traumatize by the Chibok incident and are afraid to go to school.
Boko Haram was deemed the most lethal terrorist group of 2014 by the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) — responsible for 6,664 deaths that year.
The jihadist group was the second-most deadly group (5,450 deaths) of 2015, after ISIS (6,050), according to the U.S. State Department, which used the same metric as the GTI.
Although Boko Haram has pledged allegiance to ISIS, it is treated as a separate terrorist group given that logistics of the two groups are independent of one another.
Breitbart News Saturday airs weekly on SiriusXM Patriot Channel 125, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Eastern Time.