Marries out 40 girls Accuses NAF of killing abductees
It’s a lie – DHQ Salkida, others wanted
FG reassures on rescue No, you’ve failed – BBOG
By Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, Musa Umar Bologi, Ibrahim Ramalan and Bode Olagoke,
Abuja
For the umpteenth time, the federal government yesterday assured that it’s doing everything possible to secure the release of the Chibok Girls, “and put an end to the horrible saga of their abduction.”
The reassurance followed a statement credited to Abu Musab al-Barnawi, the purported new leader of the Boko Haram, who in a recent video, talked tough and denounced any negotiation with government over the girls’ release.
The assurance came amidst claims by the insurgents that the some of the girls were killed during the aerial attack on their base, a position the military faulted.
And notwithstanding the claim, the Nigerian army has declared Ahmed Salkida and some two others wanted in connection with the latest video from the insurgents, even as the Bring Back Our Girls Group, has faulted the federal government, saying it has failed owing to the inability to rescue the missing girls.
At a press conference addressed by leaders of the BBOGG yesterday, Mr. Yakubu Kuba and his wife, Esther, were in attendance, during which they identified the girl who spoke in the latest video by the Boko Haram as Dorcas (Maida), as their daughter.
FG assures
Despite the seeming hopelessness, the federal government assured that hope was not lost; as efforts were on to establish contact with the insurgents to secure the girls release.
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the government was in touch with those purportedly behind the video.
“We are on top of the situation. But we are being extremely careful because the situation has been compounded by the split in the leadership of Boko Haram. We are also being guided by the need to ensure the safety of the girls.
“Since this is not the first time we have been contacted over the issue, we want to be doubly sure that those we are in touch with are who they claim to be,” he said.
Mohammed expressed the hope that the latest development would signal the beginning of the end of the nightmare to which the girls, their families and indeed all Nigerians had been subjected since the unfortunate abduction.
However, in the video, Al-Barnawi, the sect’s new leader, denounced any talks with the government concerning the release of the girls, saying the only avenue through which they could negotiate were journalists.
He added that the only pact they would agree to was for the Nigerian government to release their brothers who are still in her custody, after which the girls could be released.
While taking an inventory of the girls, Al-Barnawi said over 40 girls had been married out; some dead as a result of aerial bombardments by the Nigerian Army; while the injured were still nursing their wounds.
It would be recalled that ISIS named Abu Musab al-Barnawi as Boko Haram’s new leader, replacing Shekau.
Shekau’s faction speaks
But, Abubakar Shekau’s faction yesterday released a new video showing the abducted Chibok girls and claiming that some of the girls were killed by air strikes launched by the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) on their locations.
The video showed a masked armed man standing in front of several girls, who, he claimed, were the over 200 girls abducted from their school hostel at Government Secondary School, Chibok, in 2014.
The man said the video was released to send a message to parents of the girls to beg the Nigerian government to release Boko Haram members in various detention centres in exchange for the girls.
He claimed that about 40 of the girls were already married out while some others had died.
One of the girls, Maida, who spoke in both Hausa and her native language, asked parents to “be patient and beg the government to release their people, so that we will also be released”.
Speaking in the video, the masked and unnamed spokesman of the group, declared:
“This is a message from the Jama.atu ahlis sunnah lidda awati wal jihad under the leadership of Abu Muhammad Ibn Muhammad Abubakar As-Shekau.
“We are sending a special message to the parents of the Chibok Girls and the Nigerian Government. We thank God for giving us the opportunity to send this message to the parents of these girls (pointing at the girls sitting behind him).
“It pleased God to let us have these girls in our captivity for over two years now. Our first message is to the parents of the girls to let them know that their daughters are still with us, some of them.
“I also want to tell them to ask the Nigerian government to release our brethren, especially those in Maiduguri, Lagos and Abuja and other places across Nigeria. They should be released immediately.
“You all knew that we had the girls, but God never allowed you to know their location and you will never know by God’s grace. You keep lying in your media that you will rescue them, they have been with us for over two years, yet you can’t even know where they are. You have just been lying about these girls, people should know that.
“Also, for the over two years that we have been with these girls, about forty of them are married, some are dead as a result of airstrike by infidels. We will show you a video of how your own aircraft dropped a bomb that killed some of these girls. Some of the girls have suffered fractures and other forms of injuries as a result of the air strikes.
“As you can see, these are the girls (pointing at them), all we want is for you to release our brethren otherwise you will never get these girls God willing. This in short is our message to the Federal Government and the parents of the Chibok Girls.
“As long as the government does not release our people, we will also never release these girls, that is our message. I want to specially inform our people in captivity in Lagos that they should be patient and continue with their prayers, God will take us to where no one expects and we will rescue them. All those in Lagos, Maiduguri and other southern parts of the country; keep praying, very soon, we will rescue you.”
We’re studying claim-DHQ
And in a swift reaction, the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) yesterday, said it was examining the latest video from the insurgency group purporting to show some of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls.
Director, Defence Information, Brig.-General Rabe Abubakar, said the military was examining the video clip to verify its authenticity.
He said: “Currently we are studying the video clips to verify its authenticity and analysing the comments of the speakers in the video especially the terrorist member and the girl that spoke in mother tongue”
Rabe also disputed allegations in the video that some of the kidnapped girls were hit by an airstrike.
“It is extremely difficult and rare to hit innocent people during airstrike because the operation is done through precision attack on identified and registered targets and locations,” he said.
“The precision airstrike is very effective at taking out targeted enemies because it is not a random operation. We are nevertheless studying the video clips to examine if the victims died from other causes rather from the allegation of airstrike.”
‘NAF used precision’
The Nigerian Air Force, through its components in Operation Lafiya Dole, has focused on sustaining air operations and providing support to ground troops of the Armed Forces’ strive to rid Nigeria of the Boko Haram insurgency.
A top air force said: “Airstrikes are controlled by professionally trained officers who coordinate the strike with friendly ground troops, after a lot of surveillance to limit casualty on the ground.
“Nigeria Air Force employs precision guided weapons with modern Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance systems to reduce likely collateral damage from any airstrike. All the areas struck throughout the operation were thoroughly monitored on intelligence surveillance and eye services before the attacks or shelling. Most of the targeted areas were clearly identified before the air strikes to avoid collateral damages.”
The Defence Headquarters promised to issue an update after its investigation.
Army declares three wanted
Similarly, the Nigeria Army has declared a journalist Ahmed Salkida, Ahmed U Bolori and Aisha Wakil, wanted for allegedly aiding terrorism.
A statement by the Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Colonel Kukasheka Usman, said two recent incidents had proved that the trios have information on the conditions and the exact location of the girls.
He said: “The world is quite aware of the abduction of several persons; women, children and men, including the female students of Government Secondary School Chibok, Borno State Nigeria, by the Boko Haram terrorists group. Consequently, appeal was made for their unconditional release by the Federal Government. The military also made concerted efforts to rescue them.
“We also appealed to Nigerians that have any information to volunteer to the military or security agencies to enable us rescue them.
“However, two recent incidents have pointed to the fact that, there are three individuals namely; Ahmed Salkida, (Ambassador) Ahmed U. Bolori and Aisha Wakil that have information on the conditions and the exact location of these girls.
“Therefore, the Nigerian Army hereby declare the two gentlemen and the lady wanted for interrogation.”
He said the army was relying on the relevant laws of the country, particularly the Terrorism Prevention Act 2011 (as amended) where Nigerians could be punished for failure to disclose information about terrorists or terrorists’ activities.
“This became necessary as a result of their link with the last two videos released by Boko Haram Terrorists and other findings of our preliminary investigations.
“There is no doubt that these individuals have links with Boko Haram terrorists and have contacts with them. They must therefore come forward and tell us where the group is keeping the Chibok Girls and other abducted persons to enable us rescue them.”
He called on Nigerians to give useful information on the whereabouts of the three persons, as it is liaising with other security agencies for their arrest if they failed to turn up.
BBOGG slams FG
Also reacting to the latest Boko Haram video, campaigners for the release of the abducted 218 schoolgirls, under the banner of Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) yesterday condemned the federal government over its failure to act on “credible intelligence” to rescue the schoolgirls, declaring the government has failed on its promise.
The group also lampooned the federal government for declaring journalist with known links to Boko Haram, Ahmed Salkida, and two others wanted, saying, that “represented a gimmick and play on the intelligence of Nigerians by people who have had deals previously with Salkida.”
According to the group, the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari rode to power on the back of the BBOGG, by hammering on the failure of the last administration to secure or the schoolgirls and inability of the Goodluck Jonathan administration to free them after the abduction.
Addressing the daily sit-out demanding for the rescue of the girls, Chairman of the Kibaku Area Development Association (KADA), Mr. Hosea Tsambido, said, “The government’s inability to successfully launch a rescue effort is a failure. That the innocent girls are still there in Sambisa as revealed by all previous intelligence such as the account of Amina that escaped, but the government has not done anything to free them, is nothing but failure.”
Tsambido stated that the latest video “has added to our hope that these girls are alive as we saw in the video. There are some sceptics that wanted us to deviate as some even say the girls are long dead and we should forget them.”
The leader of the Chibok community alleged that “some highly placed people are trying to sweep under the carpet this latest clue as they have been doing. But they should know God is supreme.”
Earlier, a statement by the group signed by Dr. Oby Ezekwesili and Mrs. Aisha Yesufu, which was read by the latter, urged for concerted effort by the international community to secure the girls from their abductors.
The group also disclosed its intention to match on the presidential villa “in the next few days” to demand for “immediate transparent action and result-oriented strategy.”
