In 2017, Aisha Yerima shocked her family when she willingly returned to Boko Haram captivity after she had been freed by the military.
Four years on and the 30-year-old has now escaped and returned to her parents’ home in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.
She was kidnapped by Boko Haram at the age of 21 from a town south-east of Maiduguri and went on to marry one of the group’s commanders, whom she said won her heart with romance and gifts.
He had gone off to battle when the military attacked their camp in the Sambisa Forest, rescuing Aisha and dozens of other wives.
The women were all put through a one-year de-radicalisation programme, but barely four months afterwards, Aisha decided that life with Boko Haram was better.
“It was hard for me to make a living,” she told me. “Things were tough and I had to depend on my parents.”
She also found it difficult to feed her two-year-old, rescued along with her, the son from her marriage to the commander.
“I phoned my husband and he was very happy to hear from me,” said Aisha.
“He told me when next he would be coming to Maiduguri to purchase some fuel and gas, and we agreed that I would join him,” she said.
On the agreed day, she left her parents’ home with her little son, telling no-one and taking just a few possessions.
