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Tag: Chibok girls

  • FG may consider amnesty for Boko Haram prisoners – Buhari

    FG may consider amnesty for Boko Haram prisoners – Buhari

    President Muhammadu Buhari said on Wednesday that Nigerian authorities were talking to Boko Haram prisoners in their custody and could offer them amnesty if the sect hands over more than 200 schoolgirls abducted last year.

    Buhari added that he was confident “conventional” attacks by the insurgents would be rooted out by November — but cautioned that deadly suicide attacks, some of them waged by children, were likely to continue.

    “The few (prisoners) we are holding, we are trying to see whether we can negotiate with them for the release of the Chibok girls,” Buhari told AFP in an interview in Paris during a three-day visit to France.

    “If the Boko Haram leadership eventually agrees to turn over the Chibok girls to us, the complete number, then we may decide to give them (the prisoners) amnesty.”

    Boko Haram fighters stormed a school in Chibok, Borno State, on April 14 last year, seizing 276 girls who were preparing for end-of-year exams in an abduction that shocked the world.

    57 girls later escaped, but nothing has been heard of the 219 others since May last year, when about 100 of them appeared in a Boko Haram video, dressed in Muslim attire and reciting the Koran.

    Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, has since said they have all converted to Islam and been “married off.”

    Buhari, who has promised to stamp out the group’s bloody six-year insurgency, said the government would not release any prisoners unless it was convinced it could “get the girls in reasonably healthy condition.”

    But he cautioned that negotiating with Boko Haram militants was fraught with difficulties.

    “We are trying to establish if they are bona fide, how useful they are in Boko Haram, have they reached a position of leadership where their absence is of relevance to the operation of Boko Haram,” he said.

     

     

  • ‘What Boko Haram leaders told CCC on Chibok girls’

    ‘What Boko Haram leaders told CCC on Chibok girls’

    The Executive Secretary of the Centre for Crisis Communication (CCC), Air Commodore Yusuf Anas (rtd), on Wednesday said some Boko Haram leaders offered to negotiate for ceasefire because they are tired of fighting.

    He said both the Federal Government and the insurgents should adopt an open mind to the ongoing talks for negotiation.

    He, however, commended President Muhammadu Buhari for expressing the government’s willingness to dialogue with the sect.

    Anas made the clarification in Abuja while speaking on the dialogue being facilitated by the CCC between the government and the insurgents on how to free the 219 abducted Chibok girls.

    He said Boko Haram neither asked for monetary inducement nor compensation during preliminary talks for dialogue.

    [ad id=”403656″]He said: “We want to note that none of the suspected Boko Haram elements that spoke with the CCC asked for any form of monetary inducement or compensation as a pre-condition for laying down their arms.

    “In fact, many of them said that they were simply tired of fighting and being fugitives in a war that they were deceived into joining.

    “Nevertheless, the Centre will continue to support and encourage all efforts towards bringing insurgency to an end in our country.”

    Anas, who praised President Buhari’s decision to go into dialogue with genuine leaders of the sect, said there is nothing wrong in exploring any possibility of securing freedom for the girls.

     

  • What Boko Haram wants in exchange for Chibok girls- Buhari

    What Boko Haram wants in exchange for Chibok girls- Buhari

    President Muhammadu Buhari has given an insight into on-going federal government’s negotiation with the the Boko Haram insurgent group.

    Buhari spoke on the negotiation while responding to questions from members of the Nigerian community in France under the auspices of Nigerians In Diaspora Organization (NIDO) on Tuesday.

    He revealed that one the conditions given by the group was for the Federal Government to release one of its members who has been strategic in developing Improvised Explosives Devices (IEDs).

    But he said that the government will not accept such a demand.

    [ad id=”403656″]” They wanted us to release one of their leaders who is a strategic person in developing and making Improvised IEDs that is causing a lot of havoc in the country by blowing people in Churches, Mosque, market places, motor parks and other places. But is very important that if we are going to talk to any body, we have to know how much he is worth.

    “Let them bring all the girls and then, we will be prepared to negotiate, I will allow them to come back to Nigeria or to be absolved in the community. We have to be very careful, the concern we have for the Chibok girls, one only imagine if they got a daughter there between 14 and 18 and for more than one and a half year, a lot of the parents who have died would rather see the graves of their daughters rather the condition they imagine they are in.

    “This has drawn a lot of sympathy though out the world, that is why this government is getting very hard in negotiating and getting the balance of those who are alive, ” Buhari stated

  • Onobrakpeya makes case for Chibok girls

    Onobrakpeya makes case for Chibok girls

    Widely-acclaimed artist Prof Bruce Onobrakpeya has called for release of the secondary school girls abducted last year in Chibok, Borno State.

    He urged the government to take more proactive steps to end the suffering of the girls who have already spent over 510 days in the kidnappers’ den.

    He said: “The governments know more than everyone about the situation. They should double whatever efforts they are making to release those girls from suffering. Those girls have been there for over 510 days, imagine if they were not kidnapped, some would have furthered their education or learn a trade.

    “They would have moved on in life like their peers. The government should please release them so that they can continue to live their lives from where it has stopped. They should be given the opportunity to progress in life just like any other Nigerian.”

    Onobrakepeya, who spoke at the opening of an art exhibition at the GreenHouse Art Empowerment Centre (GHAE) in Ogun State, said he was pained by the plight of the Chibok girls. As one who was also kidnapped as a boy, he stated that he shared solidarity with the girls and their parents. Moved by their plight, Onobrakpeya dedicated an artwork to the Chibok girls at the GHAE group exhibition, tagged: Nigerian Visual Artists and Politics.

    “I have not grown over the trauma. I was luckier than the Chibok girls because I was miraculously rescued before being taken into the forest when I was kidnapped during the Ekene festival as a child. Even though I was rescued, I am in constant ache whenever I think of the agony that I and my mother would have faced if the kidnappers had succeeded.

    “That pain has increased because I am always pondering over the untold suffering that the Chibok girls are passing through in the hands of their kidnappers. I want to let them know that they are not alone: that as grandparents, parents, brothers, sisters, friends, citizens of Nigeria and the world, we share their pains. We daily work and pray for their release from the forbidden forest,” he said.

    Onobrakepeya added that the public can view the hand-written letter and his work at the GHAE exhibition at Olambe, Ogun State. The art display, which will run till November, also featured works of other notable artists, like Sam Ovraiti, Ato Arinze, Princess Theresa Iyase-Odozi, Dr Mabel Oluremi Awogbade, Stella Awoh, Kolawole Kosoko Olojo, Juliet Ezenwa Pearce, Bolaji Ogunwo, Stella Ubigho, Oke Ibem Oke and Evelyn Osagie.

     

  • Chibok girls ‘now Boko Haram fighters’

    Chibok girls ‘now Boko Haram fighters’

    The hope of recovering the abducted Chibok girls yesterday dimmed further with the declaration by a returnee from Boko Haram camp.

    Twenty-one-year old Tabitha Adamu, one of the women freed from the sect’s camp and handed over to the Borno State Government last week, said the girls had turned to Boko Haram fighters.

    Tabitha, who is expectant for one of the sect’s commanders who forcibly married her, said she mingled with the girls at various times in the sect’s camp.

    According to Tabitha, she was taken from Bayan Dutse in Gwoza Local Government Area, when the insurgents invaded her village.

    [ad id=”403656″]She said: “They killed my father and brother. They took me along with my mother but at some point we were separated. Since then, I’ve not set my eyes on my mother. When he (Abu Kabir, my Boko Haram husband), wanted to marry me, he gave the women who were  taking care of us N5,000 as my bride price.

    “Before the marriage, I was asked to convert to Islam. I did so because many who refused were killed and they gave me a name (Samira). I answered the name but I know my true name is my real name. When we were rescued I told the soldiers that my name is Tabitha.

    “They asked me if I am one of the wives of the Boko Haram and I told them my story. They felt for me and they treated me well.

    “Many people asked me since we were liberated, particularly about the pregnancy. I don’t know the right answer to give because I actually do not know what to do. It has happened. I don’t know what the authorities would do about it but I think it is too late to abort it. But my prayer is that I give birth safely.”

    Tabitha said she completed her secondary education and earned a certificate in computer appreciation in Maiduguri before moving to join her parents in Gwoza, at the peak of the Boko Haram insurgency.

    According to her, now that the government has promised to help her, she would be looking for a good future when she finally gains her freedom after the government might have trained her in a trade.

  • ‘Let’s not lose hope on Chibok girls’

    ‘Let’s not lose hope on Chibok girls’

    The Presidency has said that the terrorist group Boko Haram has been degraded and has lost its central command. It is not yet time for Nigerians to lose hope about finding the Chibok girls who were abducted by the group over one year ago, the government said.

    While assuring that the troops are being careful about certain locations within the Sambisa forest so as not to harm the girls, Presidential spokesman Garba Shehu said the government and the military had better intelligence to work with.

    Sambisa forest is Boko Haram stronghold. The girls were abducted on April 15 last year.

    He said: “What the President has always said is that we don’t even know where the girls are and that we need to go in there and get the intelligence and situation of things and then act.

    “Without meaning to endanger what is left of those girls, you know that the Sambissa forest is being degraded right now.  The bombing is done in a careful manner to avoid certain locations of interest as far as Chibok girls are concerned.  Please take note of what I am saying. I am not saying that the girls are here or there. But there is better intelligence now.

    “In fact, Sambissa forest is under observation 24 hours, in case somebody decides to move those girls from point A to point B. If there is any movement that is suspicious, we have drones, unmanned aircraft that fly around the place at night and during the day.

    “In the last few days,  you even saw the Chief of Army Staff leading the troops and I am aware that in the last few weeks, very interesting pictures have been sent to the President on the basis of which we will say to Nigerians, ‘don’t lose hope on the Chibok girls. I am not saying they have been found or that they have been seen. But it is not yet time for Nigerians to say we have lost them”.

    Shehu, who was answering reporters’ questions in Abuja, said there were assurances from the military to carry out the directive of President Buhari to end the insurgency within three months, adding: “From my conversation with these commanders, what they are saying to themselves is that they are not going to wait for three months, but do their best to beat the target given by the President.

    “So, there is so much going on and I can assure you that the spirits is very high. The Army chief was there with the soldiers for about nine days. That is leadership because you see him leading the soldiers from the front.  If the chief himself is there, who are you to drop your gun?  A lot is happening and Boko Haram has been degraded. They have lost central command and are now in splinters.

    “What you have now is bits and pieces carrying out distractive action because they don’t want to go down alone. So, they are looking for very soft targets, such as churches, mosques, markets.

    “The Air Force is clearing this place for the ground troops to move in. They are looking for bomb making structures and moving convoy of these insurgents. But they are being careful about certain locations with the hope not to harm these Chibok girls in those locations.”

  • ‘We want our Chibok girls back in school’

    A representative of the Chibok community and secretary of the Kibaku Area Development Association (KADA), Dr Mananseh Allen, has called on the Federal Government to ensure that the Chibok girls resume with other children for the new session this month.

    He lamented that many school children will be resuming this month but the Chibok girls or others in the Northeast would be denied the same privilege.

    The representative said the Federal Government should tell the public what it was doing so Non Governmental Organisations (NGO’s) could assist.

    Dr. Allen spoke yesterday in Abuja, after the usual sit out of members of the #BringBackOurGirls (#BBOG)  advocacy, who have been protesting the abduction of the Chibok girls over 500 days ago.

    He said the government was acting as if the problem was under control, noting that the world was shifting attention to the migrating Syrian refugees while forgetting the suffering internally displaced in Nigeria.

    “Federal Government has to speak out on what it is doing  to enable people and NGOs to assist. Right now, happenings in the Northeast is being overshadowed by the migrating Syrian refugees and in other parts while our people are forgotten’’, he said.

    “People have being displaced from their homes and livelihood for the past one year and till now, the government is yet to build an adequate camp for them; most  squat in people’s buildings and lands.

    “The children in Chibok and the Northeast have been unable to return to school for the past year, schools will be resuming tomorrow but they won’t have the privilege. We want our children back in school’’, Dr Allen said.

    ‘’Private schools in Borno have been in session but the children of the poor or IDPs, or even those in the local governments do not have the privilege of sending their wards to such schools; something really needs to be done.”

  • Chibok girls: FG yet to accept Boko Haram’s dialogue offer

    Chibok girls: FG yet to accept Boko Haram’s dialogue offer

    •Pressure from troops, Cameroon, Chad displaces sect
    •Troops launch manhunt for location of Chibok girls

    In spite of offer of dialogue, the federal government is yet to make up its mind on whether or not to go into fresh dialogue with Boko Haram.

    Some representatives of the sect were said to be on standby for new talks with plans to release two or three of the 219 missing Chibok girls.

    Also, intelligence report indicated that pressure from troops in the North-East, Cameroon and Chad has displaced the sect from their strongholds.

    It was gathered that as troops gained more grounds, they have been given a mandate to locate the whereabouts of the Chibok girls.

    Investigation by our correspondent revealed that although some representatives of Boko Haram had sneaked in and out of the country for preliminary talks with the federal government, the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is being cautious.

    Findings confirmed that the government has left only the facilitators of the new dialogue to discuss with the representatives of the sect while a profiling of the offer is being done by the government.

    A top source said: “The government of President Buhari is yet to accept the new offer of dialogue from Boko Haram in order to avoid the pitfalls of the past.

    “At the official level, no one has met with the representatives of the sect. This administration is not opposed to dialogue but it has to be cautious in its approach. Much money was wasted on the failed peace talks.

    “At the end of the day, the sect and the facilitators benefited more from the failed project. So, it is not an issue government will rush into.

    “While the President is not opposed to dialogue, security agencies are still conducting the profiling of those behind the latest talks, their ranking in Boko Haram hierarchy and the probability of the new deal. They only promised to release two or three of the girls.”

    Another source, however, said the government believes the continuous attacks of soft targets by Boko Haram made the Buhari administration to be skeptical.

    A security source said: “Members of the sect are not behaving as if they are ready for dialogue. In one breath they talk of dialogue but they continue to maim and kill many.

    “I think the pressure from our troops, Cameroon and Chad has displaced the sect from their bases and camps. The sect is no doubt feeling the heat of the increased tempo of counter-insurgency.

    “During the week, Boko Haram members engaged in reprisals in Northern Cameroon because they know the game is up.”

    As at press time, it was learnt that troops have been given the mandate to “locate the whereabouts of the Chibok girls.”

    “We believe Boko Haram leaders are using the girls as shield as they engage in make-shift life. But troops are now more determined because of far-reaching back up and new equipment. We are hopeful that we will locate the girls.”

    The Executive Secretary of Centre for Crisis Communication, Air Commodore Yusuf Anas, whose organisation is playing a facilitation role for the latest dialogue, said all options were still open.

    He said: “On the possibility of negotiation as we intimated in the last briefing, the Centre wishes to state that nothing has changed so far and all options are still open.

    “In any case, negotiation or not, we urge the military to continue in their operations until the mission is achieved.”

    He also asked Nigerians to remain security conscious at all times.

    He added: “The Centre has noted the resort to soft targets for bombing by some elements of the terrorist group using hapless young women and children.

    “Seldom is direct confrontation between the insurgents and the troops are reported these days. What this means therefore is that the time now calls for more intelligence gathering and sharing by all and sundry.

    “Citizens must remain security conscious and vigilant, especially in public places like markets, schools and worship centers and be able report any lead to the nearest security forces.”

  • Chibok girls: Buhari offers economic support to grieving parents

    Chibok girls: Buhari offers economic support to grieving parents

    •Sends them message of hope

    The Federal Government is offering economic support to parents of the over 200 students of the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, who were abducted  by Boko Haram in April 2014.

    Also being offered them by government is trauma management support.

    President Muhammadu Buhari in a fresh message of hope to the parents yesterday on the occasion of the 500th day of the abduction said the support is not any way compensation for the missing girls.

    He said: “these priceless schoolgirls are our daughters and they are dear to us as much as they are to you. We share the agony and sorrows you are experiencing as well as our abducted girls. As government we are working hard to rescue our girls alive and healthy.

    “I am optimistic that the girls are still alive and will soon be rescued and handed over to you parents by the grace of God. As leaders we are responsible for the welfare of our people and are accountable before the Almighty God.

    “As such, while the rescue efforts go on relentlessly, the government will continue to render assistance to you as their biological parents. We are aware that most of you the parents cannot attend to your sources of livelihood, go to work, go to farms or carry on with your trading because of the psychological trauma and agony you are going through and this is to be expected.

    “It is for this reason, we find it an obligation to support you in trauma management and in offering some economic support and these support are not compensation for your daughters because we have not lost hope in recovering them, indeed no sane parent gives up on the recovery of a missing child.”

    The President’s message was delivered to the parents by Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State at a meeting in Maiduguri, according to his Special Adviser on Communication and Strategy, Mallam Isa Gusau.

    Ninety parents were at the meeting.

    The President said Boko Haram’s actions have religious or tribal inclination whatsoever and regretted their senseless killings.

    He said: “government is fully committed to fight the insurgents to a standstill especially with renewed global and regional military cooperation as well as the commitment so far displayed by the  newly appointed service chiefs and their gallant armed forces who have shown so much patriotism and great sacrifice in defense of their father land.”

    The president said he fully understands the pains and agony of losing a child having once lost a child too.

  • Chibok girls alive, will be rescued soon- Buhari

    Chibok girls alive, will be rescued soon- Buhari

    Over 500 days since their abduction, some selected parents of the Chibok girls have met with the Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
    According to a statement signed by Isa Gusau, Gov. Shettima’s Special Adviser on Communication and Strategy, the meeting was to convey the message of hope to the parents by the President Muhammadu Buhari that their children would soon return and be re-united to them.
    Over 200 schoolgirls were abducted by Boko Haram insurgents at Government Secondary School, Chibok in southern part of Borno.
    The statement said the president was very hopeful that the schoolgirls were alive and that efforts were on top gear to have them rescued safely to reintegrate with their families.
    Part of the president message through the governor read; “These priceless schoolgirls are our daughters and they are dear to us as much as they are to you. ” We share the agony and sorrows you are experiencing as well as our abducted girls, as Government we are working hard to rescue our girls alive and healthy.
    “I am optimistic that the girls are still alive and will soon be rescued and handed over to you parents by the grace of God. As leaders we are responsible for the welfare of our people and are accountable before the Almighty God, as such while the rescue efforts go on relentlessly, the government will continue to render assistance to you as their biological parents.
    ” We are aware that most of you the parent cannot attend to your sources of livelihood, go to work, go to farms nor carry on with your trading because of the psychological trauma and agony you are going through and this is to be expected. ” It is for this reason, we find it an obligation to support you in trauma management and in offering some economic support and these support are not compensation for your daughters because we have not lost hope in recovering them, indeed no sane parent gives up on the recovery of a missing child”.
    The President who observed that, the activities of Boko Haram have no religious or tribal inclination regretted the senseless killings that have been carried out by the group and assured that the situation would soon come by the grace of God.
    “Government is fully committed to fight the insurgents to a stand till especially with renewed global and regional military cooperation as well as the commitment so far displayed by newly appointed service chiefs and their gallant armed forces who have shown so much patriotism and great sacrifice in defense of their father land,” the president said.
    The president in his message also sharedbin the pains of the parents as a parent himself who understands the pains and agony of losing a child.

    One of the parents, Lawan Shettima who spoke on behalf others expressed confidence in the leadership of President Buahari to rescuing their children and bringing them back home.