By Denrele Animasaun

“What a lamentable thing it is that men should blame the gods and regard us as the source of their troubles, when it is their own wickedness that brings them sufferings worse than any which destiny allots them.”— Homer

If you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas, or in Latin, qui cum canibus concumbunt cum pulicibus surgent. “He that lieth down with dogs shall rise up with fleas”

Like any people, I did not know that Chibok was in Nigeria, until the abduction of the young girls by Boko Haram in Chibok in April, 2014. Since then, Chibok is now forever linked with the abduction of the girls and the futility of retrieving the girls out of the evil clutches of BH. There was a worldwide condemnation and national campaign to Bring Back Our Girls. And over a year later, we are nowhere near bringing back the girls to their family.

So last week, while watching BBC Panorama TV programme, I was intrigued to hear some news of what happened to the Chibok  girls. If it is to be believed, that some of the  Chibok girls abductees are now becoming as twisted as their cold blooded abductors. The programme, interviewed witnesses and, worryingly, it seems to infer that some of the abductees are now being used to terrorise other captives, each other or carry out terror on behalf of Boko Haram.

For those who are quick to judge and throw the proverbial baby with the  bathwater, understand this; these girls are living under extraordinary circumstances and are likely  brain washed or simply compelled to go  along  for the sake of self-preservation .

File: A screengrab taken on May 12, 2014, from a video of Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram obtained by AFP shows girls, wearing the full-length hijab and praying in an undisclosed rural location. Boko Haram released a new video on claiming to show the missing Nigerian schoolgirls, alleging they had converted to Islam and would not be released until all militant prisoners were freed. A total of 276 girls were abducted on April 14 from the northeastern town of Chibok, in Borno state, which has a sizeable Christian community. Some 223 are still missing.

Their behaviour can be explained; around four decades ago, there was a terminology bandied about to explain such phenomen  called the Stockholm syndrome. It is often described as “bonding with the captor” the captive starts expressing empathy and feelings of loyalty towards their captors and would go on to defend and identify with captors ideals. It is quite traumatic living day in, day out seeing people dying or being killed with total abandonment and disregard for the sanctity of human lives.

The trauma that these young girls must have had to endure including being traded like commodity and used as slaves by these marauders. In  the past, I  often sounded word of  caution that these, if they  were found, would need some psychological intervention to return to living a  normal life again, in fact, it is doubtful, if they can ever regain the idyllic existence they once had before the abduction and now this: having  gone through the ordeal by  the BH. And sadly, the longer, they stay missing, the poorer their prognosis for recovery and resumption of normality.

It would have to be that the girls may have adapted to the identity of their captors and this itself is dangerous.  Although the BBC could not verify the testimony of the witnesses, Amnesty International says other girls kidnapped by Boko Haram have been forced to fight.

The programme spoke to three women who claimed they were held in the same camps as some of the Chibok girls and that some of them had been brainwashed and are now carrying out punishments on behalf of the militants. The story of the witnesses is harrowing enough and very difficult to digest. A young 17 year-old who escaped from BH, after being held captive for six months, was forced to marry a militant and is pregnant as a result. She told her story on the first day at the camp, “They told us to get ready, that they were going to marry us off.”

She and four others refused and the captors came back with four men and they slit their throat in front of them. And they told the girls that if they do not agree, they would do likewise to any girl that refuse their demands. So she agreed to marry and she said they were repeatedly raped.  She confirmed that she met some of the Chibok school girls and that they were kept in separate buildings.

Chillingly enough, the captors told the young women that: ‘You women should learn from your husbands because they are giving their blood for the cause. We must also go to war for Allah.’  She is convinced that the Chibok girls have been “brainwashed” and that she had witnessed some of them kill several men in her village. She said that the girls were forced to cut the throats of captured Christian men.  Another witness, a 60 year-old lady, who also  escaped  confirmed the story that she  saw some of the Chibok schoolgirls and that  they  had guns  and that the Boko Haram did not  hide the  fact that they were the Chibok girls, they were  told, ‘these are your teachers from Chibok.’ And that they: shared the girls out as teachers to teach different groups of women and girls to recite the Koran. She also said that any young girl who could not recite were being flogged by the Chibok girls. She said, she felt no ill will towards the girls even when they take part in violence. She added that, “she felt no malice towards the girls she had seen taking part in the violence; only pity.

Although no one to corroborate the witnesses’ stories, the human rights group, Amnesty International said their research also showed that some girls abducted by Boko Haram had been trained to fight.

“The abduction and brutalisation of young women and girls seems to be part of the modus operandi of Boko Haram,” said Netsanet Belay, Africa director, research and advocacy at Amnesty International.

The statistics of horror and mayhem left in the wake by these murderous miscreants is very disturbing and unimaginable. They have so far, in last couple of months, killed over eight hundred people in over thirty attacks on innocent people. A million, six hundred people have been displaced, people are homeless, stateless and destitute in their own country. They have been forced off their land and unable to make a living, businesses have stalled in these terror-filled places and it is predicted that some parts may experience famine due to the prolonged insurgency.