Rescued Chibok girl's mother thanks God for her return

Kanos: The mother of Amina Ali, the first of the 219 abducted Chibok schoolgirls to be found, on Thursday paid tribute to her rescuers, in her first public comments on her daughter's return.

"She expressed her appreciation to the government for rescuing her daughter. She never thought she would ever see her daughter" again, according to a statement read to the media in the capital, Abuja.

The comments came after Binta Ali, a widow in her sixties from Mbalala, near Chibok, northeast Nigeria, and Amina met President Muhammadu Buhari, two days after the teenager's ordeal ended.

The young woman, who was found by troops and civilian vigilantes, had been held for more than two years after she and her classmates were seized from their school in Chibok on April 14, 2014.

Amina, who was 17 when she was kidnapped, was the youngest of 13 children, 11 of whom died when they reached the ages of four and five, according to the statement.

"Having seen Amina grow up and get to the age she was and Amina being snatched away from her, she (Binta) was heartbroken and devastated," it added.

"But today Amina is back to her and she is thankful to God and thankful to everyone that participated in the rescue and recovery of her daughter."

Binta's husband, Ali, died soon after the abduction, according to Chibok community leaders.