Parents Tackle Military Over Abducted Girls

The Principal of GGSS Chibok in Borno State where over 100 female students were abducted by suspected Boko Haram terrorists, Mrs. Asabe Kwambura, yesterday said she was shocked when she heard of claims by the Nigerian military authorities that only eight girls are yet to be found.
Kwambura said both teachers and parents of the missing students are still confused as to the whereabouts of the abducted girls who were loaded in a truck and Hilux vehicles.
“There is nothing in the military statement that is true about our abducted girls. Up till now, we are still waiting and praying for the safe return of the students; all I know is that we have only 14 of them, and the security people, especially the Vigilante and the well meaning volunteers of Gwoza are still out searching for them.
“The military people too are in the bush searching. So, we have not received any information that they have gotten the students yet. So, let it be clear that all the information passed on to the media by the military concerning 107 girls is not true.
“I, as the principal, did not tell anybody any figure on released students other than what our Governor, Kashim Shettima had informed the media,” she said.
The principal wondered how such a large number of girls would be found and nobody sees them.
“The parents of these girls are in pain and somebody is saying they are in safe hands, where?” she asked.
“A military official called me from Abuja and I told him that I don’t want to be seen to be contradicting myself on that (missing girls) because what the governor had said was what we know about… What the governor said is still the true picture of the whole issue and that information given by the military is totally wrong.”
It would be recalled that Governor Shettima had at a press briefing Wednesday said 14 girls have been rescued and a competent security source said two more girls ‘straying’ in the bush were rescued, making the number of those that were officially rescued to 16.
But yesterday, the Borno State Commissioner for Education confirmed that the number of girls rescued was now 30, still far lower that number claimed by the military.
Locals in Maiduguri have decried what they called “flagrant politicisation” of the lives of innocent girls.
“It is a shame that Nigerian authorities can go this far in misleading its people and the international community…only God knows the trauma these innocent girls are passing through in the bush but someone is lying that they are safe,” Monday Karda, a native of Chibok said.
A mother of five, Hajiya Falmata Usman, said those involved in misleading Nigerians must be forced to resign.
“The President should also relocate to Borno immediately and see to the release of these girls. The insurgents are in Sambisa and not Cameroon. Don’t we have satellite images? Don’t we have fighter jets? Don’t we have enough troops to cordon the whole of Southern Borno and save these young girls?” she asked.
A student in Maiduguri, Janet Abu, said they deserve an apology from the Federal Government authorities.
“I doubt much if I would pass my final year exams because my mind is with my abducted sisters…this is something that can also happen to me.
“If it is true that the girls have been freed, we want the military to show them on television; we want to hear their voices,” she said.
Some of the parents, who spoke to newsmen in Chibok, said they were not aware that the military has rescued their children, saying that the military needs to show them where their children are kept, if they have been rescued.
Meanwhile, the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) had said Wednesday that only eight of the abducted students of the  Government Girls’ Secondary School Chibok, Borno, were now missing.
The headquarters said more students were freed on Wednesday evening
This is contained in a statement issued in Abuja and  signed by Director of Defence Information, Maj.-Gen. Chris Olukolade, in an update on the rescue of the abducted students.
Olukolade said that the students were freed during the on-going search and rescue operations.
“With this development, the principal of the school confirmed that only eight of the students are still missing.
“One of the terrorists who carried out the attack on the school has also been captured.”
He added that efforts were underway to locate the remaining eight students.

Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu (left) with other African Ministers of Health at their first joint conference in Luanda, Angola, yesterday