Vice President Namadi Sambo (right), in a handshake with the Minister of State for Power, Mohammed Wakil (left), during a courtesy visit by North South Power Limited Executives in Abuja last Wednesday. With them is the Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo. Photo: NAN

A new tape by Boko Haram has given an insight into the ordeal of the over 200 students of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, who have been in the grip of the terrorists for close to two months.
Our source, who viewed the tape, yesterday, said it shows “desperate pleas” from the kidnapped school girls “held in jungle with one saying ‘I never expected to suffer like this so much in my life.’”
The report also disclosed that some of the girls openly complained of hunger and begged for freedom.
Part of the story published in a United Kingdom-based newspaper reads:
A heartbreaking new video of the Nigerian school girls kidnapped by Islamic extremists shows them bravely speaking out about their ordeal for the first time.
The footage, not released publicly but seen by a select few, was taken in a jungle clearing a month after their abduction.
More than 250 girls were taken in a raid on their school in Chibok, Borno State on April 14 by Boko Haram terrorists, who want to impose Sharia law on the country.
The 250 girls are being held by Islamic group, Boko Haram after they were abducted from Chibok.
The girls in the video look healthy, but it is understood that fraught negotiations are underway to broker the release of several pupils who have fallen ill, including one with a broken wrist.
In the video, eight girls, dressed in their home-made school uniforms of pale blue gingham, plead for release as they stand courageously in front of the camera. They are clearly scared, upset and trying to be brave.
Each of them walks in turn to a spot in front of a white sheet fixed to a crude frame between the trees.
Four of them can be heard clearly, in their Hausa language, stating that they were taken by force and that they are hungry. A tall girl, aged about 18, says tearfully: ‘My family will be so worried.’
Another, speaking softly, says: ‘I never expected to suffer like this in my life.’ A third says: ‘They have taken us away by force.’ The fourth girl complains: ‘We are not getting enough food.’
The video, taken by an intermediary on May 19, has been shown to President Goodluck Jonathan. It was intended to serve as ‘proof of life’ for the girls and to encourage the President to accede to the terrorists’ demands.
Two earlier videos showed the girls seated on the ground, dressed in hijabs, reciting the Koran, and Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau declaring he would sell them into slavery, or marry them off to their kidnappers, if members of his sect were not released from prison.
Pressure from the international community and criticism of the President’s slow response to the kidnapping have led to a series of contradictory pronouncements from his government.
Ministers have declared they will not negotiate with Boko Haram, or consider the release of prisoners, while official spokesmen have said ‘the window is always open for dialogue’.