Four more girls out of the over 200
girls kidnapped from the Government Secondary School, Chibok in
Borno State, have escaped from Boko Haram insurgents, the Chairman of
Chibok Local Government Area, Mr. Bana Lawan, has said.
Lawan, at a one-day stakeholders meeting
for validation of draft humanitarian response plan for the abducted
girls in Abuja on Wednesday, said that with the four, the number of
those that had regained their freedom had risen to 57.
He was represented by the Director for
Personnel and Management, Mr. Musa Elijah, during the meeting organised
by the National Emergency Management Agency.
The LGA chairman said, “The people of
Chibok are anxiously waiting for the safe return of their children.
Except for the unfortunate situation where two of the parents have
passed on. The deceased were known to have high blood pressure.
“Latest report reaching us is that instead of 53, those that have escaped are now 57 and those remaining are 164 and not 168.
Our correspondent in Borno however
gathered that the state Commissioner for Education, Inuwa Kubo, told
the Presidential Fact-Finding Committee on the Chibok attack on
Friday that 219 girls were still missing.
Lawan explained that it was not all
those who registered for the Senior School Certificate Examination in
the school that stayed back in the school on April 14 when the
insurgents struck.
“Those that registered for the SSCE are
not all that sat for the examination. Over 500 registered and those who
had relatives around decided to move to various places like Kaduna and
Maiduguri to take the exams. Those that were left with no relations
decided to stay back and among them, 221 were abducted,” he claimed.
The chairman said the morale of girls in
the North-East was low as most of them were now discouraged from going
to school because of the abduction saga.
“The school in particular has been
existing for long and the quality of education in it has been
diminishing. So I want to appeal to the Federal Government, through NEMA
and the presidential committee, to intervene in rebuilding the school,”
he added.
Lawan commended Nigerians for showing
support for Chibok people, saying their action had restored the hope and
aspiration of the people for the return of peace to their community.
He also lauded the Federal Government’s prompt intervention through the provision of relief items for the people.
Lawan, who also decried the poor health
facilities in the area, however appealed for the deployment of medical
personnel and teachers in the area.
He said the deployment of National Youth
Service Corps members would boost the educational and health needs of
the people of Chibok.
Elijah later told journalists on the
sidelines of the meeting that the insurgents might have noticed that the
four girls had become a liability to them and therefore decided to
‘discard’ of them.
“You know we just generalise it as
escape. But when they (Boko Haram) notice that you are sick or very weak
or a liability to them, they will discard of you,” he said.
He also dismissed the claim that the Sambisa Forest where the girls are believed to be held is bigger than Lagos.
Elijah said, “The reserve (Sambisa
Forest) is about 17 by 24 kilometres. As students of the University of
Maiduguri, we used to go there. It is not as big as people are saying
and when they (Boko Haram) discard of you, you can actually trek it. So
the girls can actually trek from the forest to a nearby village where
somebody could spot and assist them.”
But he said that security operatives
might find it difficult to penetrate the forest because of the mines
allegedly planted there by the sect.
Asked if the remaining girls were still
being held in the forest, Elijah replied, “Of course, they are there.
The first time when vigilante groups went there, they saw them. The
girls even talked with them. But nobody can go there to rescue them. But
I believe the girls will be reunited with their families.”
Elijah also refuted claims that the abduction saga was pre-arranged.
“You mean the whole villagers will
gather themselves and connive and say let us lie. These people (sect)
have over 40 Toyota Hilux vans and they can beat checkpoints because
they have heavy weapons,’’ he said.
Earlier, NEMA Director-General, Alhaji
Mohammad Sani-Sidi, had said the meeting was aimed at strengthening the
coordination mechanism for humanitarian response in Chibok.
“While the Federal Government is working
towards the safe release of the abducted girls, it is important that a
sectoral response plan is prepared for their rehabilitation and
reintegration back to normal life,” the News Agency of Nigeria quoted him as saying.
“The objective of the meeting is to
integrate all sectoral response plans into one holistic multi-sectoral
response plan to avoid duplication of efforts,’’ he added.
Also, the UN Resident Coordinator in
Nigeria, Dr Dauda Toure, said the organisation had mapped out a $75m
intervention plan for states affected by the state of emergency in the
North-East.
According to him, the UN system in
Nigeria has developed an integrated response package to address the
humanitarian needs in Chibok.
It was gathered in Maiduguri on
Wednesday that the state Commissioner for Education told the
presidential fact-finding committee that government officials found out
during the data capturing and visits to parents that the four more
girls who escaped from the insurgents had reunited with their parents.
The commissioner was said to have been furious with the parents for keeping the government in dark.
Meanwhile, the President of the Civil
Rghts Congress of Nigeria, Mallam Shehu Sani, has said that the
meeting between ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo and some family members
of Boko Haram insurgents in Abeokuta, Ogun State was to open a new
channel of dialogue for the release of the abducted schoolgirls.
Sani, in a statement on Wednesday, said
that the meeting was also meant to fashion out a fresh understanding to
resolve the insurgency in the North-East.
He said, “My statement is in response to
the reports and the enquiries on the Abeokuta meeting with the former
president and some family members of the Boko Haram insurgents.
“This is to confirm that the meeting
actually took place and I was part of it. The meeting was solely aimed
at exploring the possibility of opening a new channel for dialogue or
negotiation with the sect members towards securing the release of the
abducted Chibok girls held in captivity for over a month.”
He said at the meeting, there was an appraisal of the ‘back door’ deal that was later cancelled by the government.
Sani added, “I wish to also confirm
that the report of the intervention of Mallam Ahmed Salkida in
negotiating the release of the Chibok girls is credible.
“I personally introduced Salkida to the
government and spoke about him in many of my previous interviews. He has
tried his best in the past and of recent to help in resolving the
insurgency through dialogue but was on all occasions frustrated by the
government.
“Mallam Salkida should not be vilified
but should be appreciated. Salkida’s attempt could have actually seen to
the release of the abducted girls. The meeting in Abeokuta was aimed at
repackaging and salvaging the dialogue option.”
He warned that the use of force would
not bring back the schoolgirls, saying that it was agreed at the
meeting that negotiation remained the best option in rescuing them.
Sani said, “The consequences of the use
of force to rescue the girls are clear. The indecision whether to swap
or to storm is also not helpful.
“Our children are our precious seeds for
tomorrow’s harvest. We cannot celebrate Democracy Day with our children
in chains.The ongoing insurgency is now part of our history and the
challenge before us is not to allow it to be our fate.With national
solidarity and resilient spirit we shall overcome.
“It was generally agreed that the
initiative cannot take off without the consent of the Federal
Government. It’s significant for Nigerians to note that negotiation is
the only safer option to get the girls back home.”
Also on Wednesday, a British newspaper, Daily Mail,
reported that the United Kingdom planned to send hundreds of soldiers
to Nigeria to assist the military in rescuing the girls.
The newspaper, however, said
that the UK ministers and military chiefs had yet to sanction the
plan put forward by senior officers attached to the specialist UK team
sent to Abuja following the kidnap of the girls.
It added that the troops would not be
involved directly in the hunt for the girls or take an active role in
any military action against the insurgents.
The newspaper said Downing Street was
anxious to assist the Nigerian government in providing security
against the terrorists without committing any UK troops to ‘high risk’
deployments.
It added that the role of the British
force would be to help restore morale and train Nigerian soldiers on
how to track and fight Boko Haram.
Britain, France and the United States
already have Special Forces, anti-terror experts and specialists in
hostage negotiation helping the Nigerian military to pinpoint where the
girls are being held.
Britain, the US and France have been
using aerial surveillance, satellite intercepts and evesdropping on
telephone calls made between suspected representatives of the kidnappers
and their supporters to track the movements of the Boko Haram gunmen.
Until recently Britain had a training
facility in Ghana where its military instructors trained West African
countries in readiness for their deployments with the African Union in a
project called Exercise African Winds.