Can 21 Chibok girls ever be truly free? Rehabilitation camp is just like another prison!

82 Chibok girls are now free after negotiations between the Nigerian government and the Boko Haram. But after years of being in captive is true freedom really possible?

Family member of the 21 earlier freed chibok girls describes the the government rehabilitation camp were the girls are kept as another prison.

The Boko Haram terrorist group stormed their school in Chibok in April 2014, kidnapping 276 girls, 82 girls were recently released, 21 were freed in October 2016.

The mother of one of the 21 freed girls says she has only seen her daughter three times
In her words “She is still with the officials, I really want to see her stay close but her understand the government is helping her with her education, so I must wait.”

More than a hundred girls remain missing with their fate unknown.
Peter Joseph, the uncle of one of the 21 Chibok schoolgirls released by Boko Haram in October 2016, says the rehabilitation camp of the government is “just like another prison”

In an interview on The Stream, a programme on Al Jazeera, Joseph said he had not been given free access to see his niece, Sarah, since she regained freedom six months ago.
“We were very happy to learn of the news that she was released last October,”
“But we are not very much impressed with the way the government is handling the whole rehabilitation process”.
“Since her release I’ve only got to meet her just once, last year December, that was the only time I met her”
“We are not aware of how the rehabilitation process in going on, nobody is allowed to see them. So, it’s like another imprisonment, but this one has to do with the government.”

Joseph revealed that there were set time limits on visits, and many topics – like her experience as a prisoner – were off limits.
He said he calls her often, but that she is only allowed to talk for two-three minutes before being cut off.

Joseph said his niece told him that “only females can sneak in to see them sometimes but males are not allowed into the compound.”
Last week, the sect released 82 Chibok schoolgirls after a prisoner swap with the government. The freed captives are currently undergoing rehabilitation.

Their release is the biggest since the armed group swarmed Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno state, on April 14, 2014, kidnapping 276 girls.
Of the 276 girls, 57 managed to escape, while 219 were left with the insurgents. With a total of 103 released, 116 girls are still in bondage.

Government has promised to secure the release of the remaining girls, but for now family members of the girls under rehabilitation are demanding access to their daughters.