Chibok School Girl Escapes Clutches of Boko Haram, Testifies At House Hearing

A Nigerian schoolgirl who twice escaped mass Boko Haram kidnappings is speaking out about her harrowing ordeal to a House Foreign Affairs committee. 

The brave 20-year old named "Sa'a" told a congressional panel on Africa and human rights how she escaped the clutches of the militant terrorist group. 

"The Boko Haram came to my school at Chibok when we were all sleeping at night" Sa'a recounted. "They were shooting guns and yelling. They were yelling, 'Allahu Akbar.'"

Sa'a explained how the group marched them to a convoy miles away and ordered them to get in a truck. 

Click play to watch Sa'a share how she escaped from Boko Haram. 

"They asked us to enter the trucks and said that if we did not, they were going to shoot all of us," she said.

While riding through the forest Sa'a made a decision that would ultimately change her future.

I said to one of my friends that 'I'm going to jump out of the truck. I would rather die so my parents will see my body and bury it than to go with the Boko Haram.'

Sa'a told the committee about the pain and sorrow she now feels for those still in captivity every day. 

"I have twice escaped from Boko Haram attacks on my schools, but many have not," said Sa'a. "Many live in fear every day. Their homes were burnt, so many people didn't have a place to sleep, food to eat or clothes to wear. They are now IDPs in other places." 

April marked the tragic two-year anniversary of the kidnapping of nearly 300 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok in northeastern Nigeria. 

Sa'a, whose name has been changed in order to protect her and her family, is one of the few who escaped the mass kidnapping.

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ)  served as the committee chair and he says that many of Sa'a's classmates were not so fortunate.

"Many of these schoolgirls are believed to have been forced to convert to Islam and married to Boko Haram fighters or prostituted by this group," Smith said.  "We now receive reports that some of them may be used as suicide bombers."

The Nigerian government has battled Boko Haram for more than a decade and it is now considered the world's deadliest terrorist group. 

"While we were in Nigeria, the Agatu village was attacked. 200 to 300 were killed over a sustained two to three day attack. And the attackers did not move on, but rather occupied homes within the village," explained former Virginia Rep. Frank Wolf.

Smith is encouraging and trying to facilitate a more effective U.S.-Nigerian collaboration in the fight againist the terrorist group.

U.S. counter-terrorism training has resumed after being suspended by the previous Nigerian government and Discussions are ongoing for further military assistance to Nigeria and its neighbors threatened by Boko Haram and other sources of extremist violence.

Sa'a  told the panel that she dreams and prayers for freedom, safety, and peace in Nigeria. 

"I have a dream of a safe Nigeria...a Nigeria where girls can go to school without fear of being kidnapped," she said. "A Nigeria where girls like me are not made into suicide bombers."