Chibok Girls’ Latest Video: FG Working to Free Abducted Schoolgirls

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

The Federal government has said it was still upbeat in securing the freedom of the girls abducted from their school dormitories in Chikok, Borno State, more than two years ago, thus ending the horrible saga that has characterised their abduction by Boko Haram terrorist group.

The reaction followed the latest video showing about 50 of the girls sitting on the ground and clad in full length veils in captivity.

The video released by the Abubakar Shekau faction showed the girls still alive while some are said to have died from the air strikes launched by Nigerian air force on the Boko Haram enclaves.

The kidnap of 276 students from Government Girls Secondary School in Nigeria’s volatile north-east generated a global outrage. About 219 of the girls are still missing, while some escaped with the recent being Amina Nkeki, found with her young baby by local hunters in Sambisa forest.

Boko Haram group is understood to be willing to release some of the missing students in exchange for some of their captured fighters held in prisons across the country.

The splintered insurgent group, in the video, made a demand for the release of its captured fighters in return for the release of the girls.

In a statement in Abuja, Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said government was exercising caution on the safety of the girls and remained in touch with the group 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,” Mohammed said.

More details later