Lydia Simon, who was rescued along with three children born in captivity, was among the 276 schoolgirls abducted in 2014.

Nigerian soldiers successfully rescued a pregnant woman and her three children. She had been abducted by Boko Haram militants ten years ago when she was a schoolgirl in Chibok.

Lydia Simon was rescued in the Gwoza council area, approximately 95 miles (150km) east of Chibok, where 276 schoolgirls were abducted in April 2014. Despite the passage of a decade, as many as 82 girls remain missing from that high-profile mass kidnapping.

The Nigerian army, in its announcement on Thursday, provided scant details about the rescue, only mentioning that Simon was found in the community of Ngoshe.

Both Chibok and Ngoshe are situated in Borno state, the epicenter of the insurgency that began fifteen years ago and has since spilled over into neighboring Cameroon, Chad, and Niger, displacing roughly 2 million people throughout the region.

According to the army statement, Simon was five months pregnant at the time of her rescue. Accompanying the statement was a photograph of her and her three children born in captivity, appearing to be between the ages of two and four. However, Simon has yet to be reunited with her family.

The abduction in Chibok marked the beginning of a series of mass school kidnappings in Nigeria, shocking the world and sparking the global social media campaign #BringBackOurGirls. A decade later, many of the abductees, now adults, have either been freed or managed to escape, but jihadist groups and bandits persist in targeting schools for mass abductions.

Since the Chibok attack, over 2,190 students have been kidnapped, according to the Lagos-based geopolitical risk consultancy SBM Intelligence. Mass abductions have become a preferred tactic for Nigeria's numerous armed groups.

Following the Chibok abduction, approximately 57 women escaped in the hours after their kidnapping by leaping from the trucks used to abduct them. In May 2017, another 82 were released reportedly after the government paid million-dollar ransoms. Those who have returned in recent years were often discovered abandoned in the forests.

Concerns have been raised by some Chibok parents and security analysts about the lack of evidence indicating a dedicated military operation to free the remaining women. Their current status, including whether they are all still alive, remains uncertain.

According to Chioma Agwuegbo, an activist involved in the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, some of the recently freed women were subjected to rape or forced marriages by the insurgents. She highlighted the immense trauma and violence they endured, emphasizing that those who were kidnapped a decade ago are not returning as the same individuals.

The cause has largely faded from the attention of many politicians and celebrities who once championed it. On April 14th, the anniversary of the abduction, the local activist collective that initiated the campaign and organized rallies for years in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, reiterated their ongoing pursuit of justice for the missing women after "this decade of shame."

The rescue of Simon symbolizes the enduring hope that persists in her hometown, according to Idayat Hassan, an Abuja-based analyst and non-resident fellow with the Africa program at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. "It's symbolic that 10 years later, we still have another one of the girls," Hassan remarked. "It keeps our hope alive."

Simon's family eagerly awaits the reunion with their long-lost relative, mirroring the sentiment of the villagers of Chibok.

"The government has not provided us with any information, and we are awaiting an official communication," stated Yakubu Nkeki, the chair of the Chibok girls' parents' association.