Chibok girl who escaped Boko Haram is feted in Nigeria

LAGOS, Nigeria -- The first Chibok teenager to escape from Boko Haram's Sambisa Forest stronghold was flown to Abuja on Thursday and met with Nigeria's president, even as her freedom adds pressure on the government to do more to rescue the 218 other missing girls.

Some already have died in captivity, while the others are held under heavy guard in the forest, the escapee has revealed, according to her family doctor.

The 19-year-old, who was 17 when she was kidnapped, was shielded from journalists when she arrived at the presidential villa with her mother carrying her 4-month-old baby.

The group was shown into President Muhammadu Buhari's office for a private meeting that lasted an hour.

Television cameras and photographers were allowed in briefly afterward to register images of the woman with Buhari.

"I am delighted at the news that ... one of the missing Chibok girls has regained her freedom," the president said in a statement. "But my feelings are tinged with deep sadness at the horrors the young girl has had to go through at such an early stage in her life."

He said medical personnel and trauma experts had examined her for five hours Wednesday and promised she would get the best medical care and education the government can offer. But aid workers said the young woman should be getting immediate care instead of making public appearances.

"It is an outrage!" said Francisca Vigaud-Walsh, women's and girls' advocate at Refugees International, saying the escapee's case should not be politicized.

The Bring Back Our Girls movement called a rally Thursday evening to celebrate. The movement, which inspired a worldwide social media campaign using the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls, has met faithfully every week at Abuja's Unity Fountain to demand the government act more aggressively to rescue the girls.

In his statement, Buhari repeated promises his administration will do all it can to bring the girls home.

Joy and renewed hope have met the discovery Tuesday of the young woman, though she appears too traumatized to understand her central role in the tragedy that captured worldwide attention.

Nigerian hunters found her wandering on the fringes of the remote northeastern forest and reunited her with her mother, family doctor Idriss Danladi said after speaking with the mother.

Nigeria's military claimed it had rescued the young woman, though its initial statement identified the escapee as another Chibok girl who still is missing.

Authorities will ask her where her classmates are being held. If Boko Haram tries to move large groups of girls because of her escape, those movements can be captured by satellites and air reconnaissance.

The woman, with her mother and baby, was taken to a military camp and flown by helicopter Wednesday to Maiduguri, the biggest city in the northeast, which is the birthplace of Boko Haram and the headquarters of Nigeria's war against the extremist group.

She was handed over to Borno state Gov. Kashim Shettima, who declared he would hand her to Buhari "to present to the nation."