Today marks the 2 year anniversary of the abducted chibok girls, who where kidnapped on the 14th of April 2014.
The deadly Islamic sect released another video of the abducted girls, and while watching the video, 3 mothers identified her daughter, crying out her name and reaching out to the laptop, the closest she has been with her daughter ever since the kidnapping.
The girls were filmed saying they were being treated well but wanted to go home and be with their families.
This may be the first possible sighting of the girls since a video in May 2014.
Various false leads have raised hopes of finding the girls but their whereabouts remains unknown.
The video, which was obtained by CNN, was reportedly sent to negotiators by the captors of the Chibok girls as a “proof of life.”
The video had been seen by negotiators and some members of the government.
But no one had shown the parents. Until now.
The video is believed to have been made last December as part of negotiations between the government and Boko Haram.
It was released by someone keen to give the girls’ parents hope that some of their daughters are still alive, and to motivate the government to help release them.
The girls, their hair covered and wearing long, flowing robes, line up against a dirty yellow wall. They show no obvious signs of maltreatment.
As the camera focuses in on each of them, a man behind the camera fires off questions: “What’s your name? Was that your name at school? Where were you taken from?”
Mothers Rifkatu Ayuba and Mary Ishaya said they recognised their daughters, Saratu and Hauwa, in the video, while a third mother, Yana Galang, identified 5 of the missing girls, the report said.
Local officials said more identifications were needed.
“The girls were looking very, very well,” Mrs. Galang said in a telephone interview with the Thomson Reuters Foundation after viewing the video at a screening organised by local officials in Maiduguri, capital of Borno state in northeast Nigeria.
The 3 mothers were invited to the viewing by the chairman of Chibok local government area, Bana Lawan, who confirmed that he paid their travel costs to Maiduguri, the state capital.
“They were definitely our daughters … all we want is for the government to bring back our girls,” said Galang, adding all the girls were wearing hijabs in the video.
No member of Boko Haram was visible in the video and local officials were not immediately available to give details on how they received the video.
“We only heard a man’s voice and saw his finger pointing at the girls one after the other,” Mrs. Galang said.
She said the girls in the video spoke in Hausa, a language widely spoken in Nigeria, and Kibaku, the local Chibok language.
Mrs. Galang said one mother, Mrs. Ayuba, was relieved to see her daughter as she had heard a rumour shortly after the kidnapping that her daughter had been killed by Boko Haram.
“She was very happy to see her in the video … her daughter is alive,” Mrs. Galang said.
Amnesty International has said that about 2,000 girls and boys have been abducted by the Boko Haram since 2014, with many used as sex slaves, fighters and even suicide bombers.
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