Search found 3 matches for BringBackOurGirls

Another Chibok girl,Rakiya Abubakar and her six-month-old baby. have been reportedly rescued by troops of 27 Brigade around Alagarno area near Ajigin in Damboa LGA. Rakiya Abubakar was one of over 200 schoolgirls abducted from the northeast Nigerian town of Chibok in April 2014, army spokesman Sani Usman said in a statement. He said soldiers had “during investigation of arrested suspected Boko Haram terrorists discovered… Rakiya Abubakar, with her six-month-old baby.” Newly found Chibok girl, Rakiya Abubakar and her baby He said she was a senior school student at the time of her abduction but did not specify when or where she was found. Of the 276 girls initially seized, scores escaped in the hours after the kidnapping. There are currently 195 schoolgirls still missing. Abubakar is one of three other schoolgirls who have been found in the past year by Nigerian troops as they fight Boko Haram Islamists. In October, 21 Chibok girls were released by Boko Haram after negotiations with the Nigerian government brokered by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Swiss government. The release was hailed as a breakthrough that would lead to the recovery of remaining girls in captivity. The Chibok girls drew global attention to the Boko Haram insurgency engulfing the country when US First Lady Michelle Obama joined the #BringBackOurGirls online movement. Despite winning back swathes of territory from the jihadists, President Muhammadu Buhari has faced intense criticism for failing to recover the young captives, who became the defining symbol of Boko Haram’s brutal campaign to establish a fundamentalist Islamic state in the country. Boko Haram still poses a threat to the war-torn region, launching sporadic raids on remote villages in Nigeria and deadly attacks on soldiers in neighbouring Chad and Niger. Nigeria has recently trumpeted a major victory in its battle against Boko Haram, claiming in late December that its army has routed the jihadists from their Sambisa forest stronghold.

Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar

Niyi Odebode, Friday Olokor and Adelani Adepegba

The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, says the Nigerian Air Force has no intelligence on whether the Chibok girls are in Sambisa Forest or not.

Abubakar, who spoke during an interactive session with journalists in Abuja on Saturday, however, said the NAF was working round the clock to rescue the girls and other Nigerians abducted by Boko Haram.

The NAF chief also commented on the operation of the force in the South-South, saying the air force would not bomb Niger Delta.

When Abubakar was asked if the air force had any intelligence on whether Chibok girls were in the Sambisa Forest or not, he said, “Honestly we don’t. That is the truth of the matter. Even if you see women that are dressed in hijab, how are you sure they are women; that they are not men? It is only when you get there and they remove the hijab that you now realise that they are men and they have their rifles.

“There is no credible intelligence that will specifically tell you that these girls are here.”

He said the air force flew its planes daily with the hope of sighting the Chibok girls, adding that the military, like other Nigerians, was passionate about them.

He said about 50 per cent of the NAF flying missions in counter-insurgency operations were devoted to Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance.

According to him, the ISR is aimed at rescuing the Chibok girls and other Nigerians abducted by the sect.

He said, “There is no day that the sun rises and sets that we do not go out hoping to see these girls. From January this year to August 17, we flew 2,600 hours. About 50 per cent of that was Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance.

“We are hoping that through the intelligence, we will be able to capture the movement of those girls; we will be able to locate what we consider legitimate targets.”

He dismissed the latest Boko Haram video, where the sect displayed some girls, which it claimed were killed by military bombardment, as cheap propaganda.

Abubakar explained that there was no way bodies of people killed by bombardment could be intact as shown in the video.

He stated, “Even the IED (improvised explosive device) that they (the sect) developed, have you ever seen a complete body together after an attack on any location?”

He insisted that what was shown in the video could not have been something that happened after an air strike.

He added, “These guys are just trying to whip up sentiment because they know that every Nigerian is concerned about the girls.”

He said although there was no military operation without collateral damage, the air force was doing everything possible to determine legitimate targets.

The air force chief said Sambisa forest, which is about 60,000 square kilometres, was a difficult terrain, especially for the land forces.

He explained that equipment could get stuck in the forest during the rainy season.

He added that with what the air force had seen from its reconnaissance, it was difficult to say that the place was still occupied.

Abubakar said with the logistics base of the sect destroyed by the air force, it would be easier for land forces to move into the forest during the dry season.

He also disclosed that the air force would soon commence its operations in the South-South.

He stated that the air force would not bomb the Niger Delta, but would protect the people and facilities.

“We are not going to bomb the Niger Delta; we are going to protect the people and oil and gas infrastructure,” he stated.

He added that NAF had entered into partnership with 15 Nigerian universities and polytechnics, through which it had been producing spare parts to service grounded aircraft.

He said, “Our aircraft require spare parts from time to time. Since most of these spare parts are not available here, we need to look inward.”

BBOG marches to Aso Rock

The #BringBackOurGirls spokesman, Abdullahi Abdullahi, declined to comment on the air force statement that it had no intelligence on the Chibok girls.

“We don’t have any comment for now,” Abdullahi said on Sunday.

The group and parents of the abducted girls will, however, march to the Presidential Villa today (Monday).

The #BringBackOurGirls movement had, in a statement on Thursday, said it would commence street marches to the Presidential Villa from Monday (today), as part of measures to compel the Federal Government and the global community to take action to ‘‘rescue the 219 Chibok schoolgirls.’’

The group stated that it would also engage the media and other critical stakeholders, including international organisations and statesmen.

The BBOG, in a reminder to journalists on Sunday, explained that the planned march followed the lukewarm response from the government to the video of the girls that was released last week by Boko Haram.

“Areas to be covered during the period of engagement include the #ChibokGirls, the humanitarian crisis in the North-East, corruption in the disbursement of relief materials to Internally Displaced Persons camps and the arms deal saga,” the group stated.

Meanwhile, a civil rights movement, Coalition Against Terrorism and Extremism, has demanded that Ahmed Salkida, Aisha Wakil and Ahmed Bolori, who were recently declared wanted by the military authorities, should assist in securing the release of the Chibok girls.

The organisation also appealed to the #Bring Back Our Girls team to direct its protests against Salkida, Wakil and Bolori.

Speaking in Abuja on Sunday, the National Coordinator of CATE, Gabriel Onoja, said the three personalities named by the military possibly knew more about Boko Haram than the security agencies.

Onoja said, “We are appealing to the trio of Salkida, Wakil and Bolori and other persons with links with Boko Haram to prevail on the abductors of these girls to release them unconditionally.’’


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The Bring Back Our Girls movement has lamented the inability of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to meet any of its demands, a year after its first parley with the president.

Nigerian President Mohammadu Buhari (2nd L) and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo (L) listen to coordinator of the Bring Back Our Girls group Oby Ezekwesili (C) as she speaks about the ongoing campaigning for the release of Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram Islamists during a meeting with President Mohammadu Buhari in Abuja, on July 8, 2015. AFP PHOTO Nigerian President Mohammadu Buhari (2nd L) and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo (L) listen to coordinator of the Bring Back Our Girls group Oby Ezekwesili (C) as she speaks about the ongoing campaigning for the release of Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram Islamists during a meeting with President Mohammadu Buhari in Abuja, on July 8, 2015.


AFP PHOTO In a statement read Friday during a special sit-out in Abuja to evaluate its achievements one year after engaging with the president, BBOG said it is extremely disappointing that none of the five demands has been completed. “On 8th July 2015, the #BringBackOurGirls movement, parents of our abducted #ChibokGirls and representatives of the Chibok community had an engagement with the new President, Muhammadu Buhari. This was necessitated by the need to establish fact, the urgency of our cause and dispel misconceptions about our movement, especially considering the treatment we had received from the preceding administration. At the time of that engagement, our 219 girls had been in captivity for 450 days and the President acknowledged government failure with regards to the rights of our girls and victims of the insurgency. “As part of our submissions to the President, we presented Our crowd-sourced Citizens’ Solution to End Terrorism, Verification, Authentication and Reunification System (VARS), and a List of Demands”, the group said in the statement which w as jointly signed by Dr Oby Ezekwesili and Aisha Yesufu. Its initial demands were the implementation of the Verification, Authentication and Reunification System VARS, Protocol of Engagement with the Citizens among others. “We proposed that a team be tasked with the credible implementation of VARS. The primary task of the team was to work with every abducted victim’s family and community to accurately ascertain the true identity of such individuals. Following their accurate identification, the comprehensive program for Recovery, Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Reintegration was to be made available to them. It was also supposed to entail the setting up of a Missing Persons’ Register. “We requested that the President direct relevant Government representatives to work with the BBOG Family to commence work immediately on an Accountability Matrix, which will define the protocol for obtaining and sharing information with citizens. We also suggested a monthly meeting between security operatives and community stakeholders in communities most affected by these acts of violence e.g. Chibok, Gwoza and Bama. We believed at that time that it would encourage much needed collaboration and information sharing to bridge the identified communication gap. “We requested that the President direct the establishment of a Commission charged with the task of transparently investigating and reporting on the security lapses that caused their successful abduction and the operational leadership failures that led to their long captivity in terrorist enclave. This Commission was also to review the allegations of corruption within our security services that has hindered its capacity to perform effectively “We requested that the President direct that the Report of the Presidential Fact Finding Committee of the Chibok Girls and the Presidential Committee on Security Challenges in the North East be made public immediately. “We suggested that the Government begin, in earnest, a holistic process of proper sensitization and enlightenment to curb this trend of youth radicalization and extremism. The BBOG Family indicated willingness to work with the Government to design the programme. We departed with the hope of re-engaging the administration towards setting clear timelines and deliverables for the five requests. “A year later, it is extremely disappointing that none of the five demands has been completed. Specifically, a failure to implement VARS means we still do not have a cohesive system of identifying liberated citizens or even a database of those affected. Thanks to an initial partnership between the #BringBackOurGirls movement and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), a coalition of Government Agencies led by the NHRC has begun the initial processes towards the establishment of a National Missing Persons’ Register. We acknowledge this, but ask that the work is fast-tracked and completed for the benefit of displaced Nigerians. “This morning, a year after our engagement and close to six months since the President directed the setting up of a committee to carry out investigation into the abduction of our girls, we read of an approval of the members of the committee. Again the lack of urgency in the dispatch of responsibilities towards the rescue of our girls is alarming. “At this rate, it begs the questions – when will the committee be constituted? When will they be mobilized to start work? What time line will they work with and the reports submitted? Under what timeline will the government study and act on the report? What does this mean for our Chibok Girls who do not have the luxury of time and whose plight worsens with every passing hour, minute and second? “The non-release of the Report of the Presidential Fact Finding Committee of the Chibok Girls and the Presidential Committee on Security Challenges in the North East is also unacceptable. We demand an immediate release of these reports as their importance for lessons learned about the abductions and insurgency in general cannot be overemphasized. We reiterate our position that sensitive areas with implications for national security as repeatedly mentioned can be blotted out of the public document. Global best practice supports this. These lessons learned while providing information to the public will justify the need for expenditure of public resources, provide metrics for scrutiny and acceptance of the new report and factual evidence for the prosecution of all benefactors of the diversion of funds for arms procurement”, BBOG noted.

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