A female victim of Boko Haram terrorism has graduated with an associate degree in science Magna Cum Laude (High Honors Distinction) in the United States of America.

The young lady (referred to only as Miss Z for security reasons), who was sponsored to school in the US by Washington-based international Human Rights Lawyer Emmanuel Ogebe, arrived in America in 2015.

A graduation dinner in honour of the graduand was attended by distinguished guests including a retired Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, the first female medical doctor from northern Nigeria, an award-winning Nigerian American businessman as well as a former president of a Diaspora association of Nigerian legal professionals.

The Host Emmanuel Ogebe commended the young lady for completing her associate degree in science in less than two years in the US and even becoming Vice President of the Honours Society of her Community College.

Ogebe said Monday in a statement: “Miss Z, who is from northeast Nigeria, was at her home in Maiduguri, Borno State when she saw Boko Haram Terrorists scaling the fence surrounding their compound. She tried to alert her mum but it was too late for her father who was outside the house. The terrorists descended on her dad whom they tried to overpower as he struggled with them while Miss Z pleaded with them for her dad’s life.

“Infuriated by her pleas, they warned her to go inside the house or be killed. As she demurred, they fired at her before she ran indoors. In the ensuing commotion after they killed her father, a prominent pastor in the State, Miss Z did not realise that a pellet from one of the shots fired had lodged in her head.

“An x-ray after she complained of headaches revealed the bullet in her and two months after the attack, she was scheduled for surgery. Doctors performed the operation by administering only local anaesthesia on her because of the high risk of not surviving the procedure if she were put to sleep.

“Against this background, her scintillating academic performance was nothing short of “miraculous,” Ogebe remarked. “Many who have gone through less trauma would have been unable to function at this level much less performing excellently well.”

In her vote of thanks, Miss Z said: “Thanks to Daddy for organising this and I am excited for where God is taking me to because I know that God has a great plan for me, I look forward to seeing what he has in store for me, thank you.”

She recounted that she “came here 26/9/2015 on a Saturday. It was summer then so the place was too hot. I started by saying, “so this is how America is?” I thought I will be walking on a street of gold.

“I stayed in High School from October till November, then I came back for Christmas break in December. Then I took the Community College test and I did well. I was accepted into all university classes and I started university in January, so I didn’t go back to High school. That’s three months after my arrival in the US that I got admission to the university.”

In his remarks, her benefactor Emmanuel Ogebe said: “The testimony here is that two other girls including one Chibok girl had taken university placement test and passed but we didn't have money to send them to school. It’s after you (Miss Z) came and took the exam and passed that's when the money came and we were able to take all of you to university, so it seems like God was waiting for you to come and complete them and then go to the university.”

Also speaking, Dr Maryamu Ogebe, the first female doctor from northern Nigeria assured Miss Z, “God will see you through – just trust him. God is going to do something to surprise all of us.”

The Distinguished Guest of Honour, the Honourable Justice James Ogebe, who had just marked 50 years at the Nigerian bar, said: “I just want to thank God for 50 years of being a barrister and later a judge. I give all gratitude to God. I am the first lawyer in Ado LGA – the first judge in the whole of Idoma land. I am so grateful to God for taking me to study law and to be a judge and now I am completely retired and have left it to you and David and your wives who are also lawyers to carry on and to go beyond what I have done. So the Lord has been faithful to all of us. I pray that some of the Grandchildren will be lawyers and even judges, that they may reach to a higher position than I have attained.”

Addressing the celebrant Miss Z, the distinguished jurist said: “America is a land of opportunities. Anyone who is serious and trusts in God will make it. Let me give an example with your in law, Emma, he came here at a very young age of 21 years. He has his PhD, his first, second and third degree, so America is a land of opportunities much more than England. The only one who is lazy cannot make it.”

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