We can’t confirm release of Chibok girls – Chief of Defence Staff

 

BY FOLASHADE KEHINDE

CONTRARY to a report by international news platform, CNN, that some of the Chibok schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram nearly seven years ago had escaped from their captors, the Nigerian government has said it is not aware of the development.

The new Chief of Defence Staff, Maj. Gen. Lucky Irabor, said, on Sunday, that the Chibok girls were not in the Military’s custody, and so he could not confirm the news of their release.

He spoke to journalists during his Operational visit to the Theatre Command of Operation Lafiya Dole in Maiduguri.

“We do not have any of the Chibok girls in our custody. If they are not with us, what do you want us to confirm?…It was the desire of the Military to get the Chibok girls back safely, and if our operations have helped those said to have escaped, I think we are glad,” the Chief of Defence Staff said.

CNN had reported the escape of some of the girls a few days ago, quoting the father of one of them.

Halima Ali Maiyanga, one of more than 100 young women still missing, called her father to say she and others had managed to flee Boko Haram militants Thursday, the international news platform had reported.

THE POINT recalls that Boko Haram insurgents had attacked a Government Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, on April 14, 2014, and abducted over 276 schoolgirls from their hostels.

Rescue efforts and negotiations between the President Muhammadu Buhari administration and the insurgents led to the release of 107 of the girls in batches.

Stressing his position that the girls were not with the Nigerian government, Irabor said, “We hope to strengthen the efforts that we are putting on in order to free the rest that are behind.”