A civil rights worker in Nigeria's restive northeast
organised the dramatic rescue of nearly 500
schoolgirls from a town under attack by Boko Haram.
He has been credited with averting a repeat of the
abduction, in April last year, of 279 students from the
town of Chibok , most of whom are still missing.
Ibrahim Garuba Wala, better known as I G Wala, a
leader of Nigeria's National Consensus Movement
(NCM) arranged for the daring evacuation of the
children from deep in the bush, where they had fled
with their teachers.
His rescue operation was conducted under the noses
of the Nigerian military, which had reportedly refused
to enter the area because it was too dangerous.
The incident happened two months ago, but has
remained virtually unreported, even in Nigeria. I G
Wala has provided photographs and video of the
rescue, showing the 470 girls, all wearing school
uniforms, running in single-file through dusty terrain,
many barefoot.
Liaising with their teachers, who had alerted the NCM
leader to their plight by mobile phone, I G Wala
agreed a rendezvous point near a remote village
accessible by road. He hurriedly arranged a fleet of
passenger vans from the state capital, Gombe, 50km
away, which whisked the girls to safety.
They had been boarding at the Federal Government
College in Bajoga town, which had come under fierce
attack by the jihadi insurgents, who entered the town
in stolen Armoured Personnel Carriers. They attacked
the police station, robbed the bank and looted shops.
A heavy gunfight ensued between the insurgents and
the Bajoga police, alongside a few dozen soldiers
based near the town. An unknown number of
militants, police and military personnel were
reportedly killed.
As the Boko Haram fighters entered the school
compound, I G Wala was on the phone to a member
of staff at the school.
"I could hear the teachers screaming at the girls just
to drop everything and run. All I could think of was
the girls from Chibok and I knew that we could not
let this happen again," he said. I G Wala has been an
active member of the Bring Back Our Girls campaign.
He claims he begged a Nigerian military commander
to send in his troops to rescue the school girls but
was told that the situation there was out of control.
When I G Wala insisted on leading a group of civilians
to rescue the girls, the commander, he says, agreed
to supply two military escort vehicles.
Pictures show a handful of armed soldiers observing
the evacuation. From where the road ended, the
rescuers had to continue into the bush using
motorcycles borrowed from villagers.
She ran up to me, crying, and
hugged me. I told her and her
friends not to worry and that
everything would be OK now.
You should have seen their
faces
The civil rights worker took with him the speaker of
the Gombe State Assembly, Inuwa Garba, who has
confirmed the entire account to Channel 4 News .
Mr Garba said military aircraft were bombing Boko
Haram positions in the bush which is why the army
commander had been reluctant to let the civilian
rescue party enter the area.
While travelling by motorcycle, a preferred mode of
transport for Boko Haram, they had to fly white flags
so that military pilots above would not bomb them.
The girls ran a total of 15km through the bush. They
had been unable to take any water and many were
severely dehydrated, I G Wala said. One had been
injured by treading on a spike with bare feet.
"We carried some of them on our backs for the final
kilometre back to the nearest village, which was as
far as our vans had been able go. We had brought
with us a vehicle loaded with bottles of water for the
girls."
The children and their teachers emerged from the
bush at dusk. The area was extremely insecure and
"we had to get out quickly," he said. The girls were
driven to the Government Girls' Secondary School in
Gombe city.
'Uncle!'
One of the students was I G Wala's own niece, 13-
year-old Miriam Mohammad Garuba Wala.
"When she saw me, she cried out 'Uncle!'" he said.
"She ran up to me, crying, and hugged me. I told her
and her friends not to worry and that everything
would be OK now. You should have seen their faces,"
he said. "They were distraught."
"When we finally arrived in Gombe, we were met by
teachers and many parents of the girls from Bajoga.
There was nothing quite like that feeling. It was very
emotional," said I G Wala.
"I had a sense of accomplishment on completing this
task," he said. "After the whole thing, what is
important is that whenever you feel that you just
have to do something, you just have to do it,
regardless of risk."
The militants have led sustained attacks in the
Gombe area in recent weeks. Ten days ago, a car
bomb exploded 200m from a stadium in Gombe city,
just minutes after President Goodluck Jonathan had
left a political rally there. The bomb killed at least
one bystander and wounded seven. The previous day,
a suicide bomber killed five and wounded eight near a
mosque in the city.
Boko Haram, an Islamist group which has affiliated
itself with Islamic State and has established a self-
declared caliphate across northeastern Nigeria. The
group's name roughly translates as "Western
Education is Forbidden." It has repeatedly attacked
schools and abducted children. Those who have
escaped say they are used by the insurgents as
porters for weapons, as cooks and sex slaves.
In February last year, the insurgents killed 59 boys at
the Federal Government College of Buni Yadi in Yobe
State. One month ago, an attack on a boy's school in
Potiskum, also in Yobe State, killed nearly 50, when a
suicide bomber, dressed in school uniform, detonated
his vest during morning assembly.
'No thanks'
I G Wala's civil rights organisation, the National
Concensus Movement, is a coalition of youth groups
across northern Nigeria. It agitates against "the gross
insensitivity of the Federal Government of Nigeria,"
towards those who have suffered "unimaginable
atrocities and calamities."
I G Wala said he had received no word of thanks or
even acknowledgement from the Nigerian federal
authorities or the military, only from the principal of
the school in Bajoga. He has remained friends, he
said, with the ten soldiers "who shared this ordeal"
and escorted his rescue convoy.
The Nigerian military has reportedly refused to
confirm that any of the events described here even
happened. Channel 4 News has repeatedly called the
Nigerian military spokesman but so far has not
received a response.
The girls of the Federal Government College in
Bajoga are now back at school. There is now a heavy
military presence in the town. The day after the girls
were rescued, the Nigerian military is understood to
have deployed reinforcements to Bajoga town but the
convoy was reportedly ambushed by the insurgents
and 28 soldiers were killed.
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