Stunning revelations have emerged, a day after
the 21 of the abducted Chibok girls were freed
and brought to Abuja by top security officials.
Saturday Vanguard gathered from top individuals
who were involved in the negotiations leading to
the release of the girls that most of them were
kept by a faction loyal to the son of the founder
of Boko Haram, Mohammed Yusuf, in areas
around Lake Chad while the rest of them were
with another faction loyal to Abubakar Shekau.
Photo by Abayomi ADESHIDA
It was also learnt that out of the 276 Chibok
school girls seized by Boko Haram on April 14,
2014, only 104 were not married off by Boko
Haram leaders and associates, while some were
killed by either bombs, bad weather or lack of
medical and food supplies.
“As at the time we entered into negotiation with
the Boko Haram group to free the Chibok girls,
only 104 were available and ready to be rescued
and be re-united with their families.
“The remaining 83 girls are with a top leader of
Boko Haram and those are the only ones we are
going to work for their release in the next phase
of our negotiation which starts immediately.
“The others had since become Boko Haram
members, having been married off and radicalised
into Boko Haram as soon as they were captured
over two years ago”, the source said
The source, who admitted that the girls were
scattered among Boko Haram leaders, however
assured that the 21 released on Thursday, never
had sex with any of the insurgents, as they stood
their grounds that they were not ready to be
married off as their colleagues.
The source said: “I can assure Nigerians that
none of the 104 Chibok girls had sex with any
Boko Haram commanders or associates
throughout their ordeal. They stood their grounds
that they were not ready to be married off and
those who kept them ensured that they were not
sexually harassed.
“As at the time we got them out, the 104 girls
were in one place and they refused to be married
to any of the Boko Haram elements.
Answering a question on how one of them came
about a baby while in captivity, the official said
that the mother was among those married off by
one of the sect leaders before she was rescued.
One of the local officials backing international
agencies involved in the negotiations with Boko
Haram to free the girls, confirmed to Saturday
Vanguard that while some of the girls were being
kept in the dreaded Sambisa Forest by one of the
factional leaders of Boko Haram, the rest were
scattered in Yobe, Lake Chad region and areas
bordering Cameroun for ‘strategic reasons.
On how the sect agreed to release the girls, he
said that some of the commanders of Boko
Haram decided to release only 20 out of the 104
girls to the government as a ‘test of the level of
sincerity of the Federal Government to do
business with the sect’.
The source pointed out that the ‘extra’ one girl
released by the sect to the negotiating team was
a ‘mark of appreciation’ by the Boko Haram
leadership to the leading Nigerian humanitarian
leader, who has been deeply involved in all
attempts to make peace between them and the
government over the years.
“It is true, we negotiated for the release of 20 of
the girls in the first phase of the exercise as a
demonstration of government sincerity to do
business with the sect but in the end, the
leadership released one more captive to us as a
gesture of their appreciation of my efforts,” the
source explained.
But the split in the ranks of the sect nearly stalled
the release of the 21 girls, as Saturday Vanguard
learnt from authoritative sources that the bomb
blast which rocked Maiduguri on Wednesday, was
deliberately orchestrated to disrupt the release of
the girls.
However, the release was tactically done in Banki,
a remote area outside Maiduguri, thereby taking
the heat off the Borno State capital; foiling the
plan of the faction opposed to the deal with the
government.
Although some individuals familiar with the Boko
Haram dealings with government have insisted
that huge sum of money was paid for the release
of the girls, the source swore that the Boko
Haram leadership deliberately freed the girls
unconditionally so as to earn the confidence of
the Federal Government to enter into what he
described as ‘binding agreement’ that would be
based on agreed terms.
According to the source, the terms would be
unfolded by the Boko Haram and Federal
Government officials in Abuja.
“It is at the proposed meeting in Abuja that the
Boko Haram representatives, will formally table
their demands, which will certainly include release
of their commanders and backers and ransom to
end the long-running insurgency in the north,” the
source said.
“I want to say at this point that no commander
was exchanged with the Chibok girls and no
ransom was demanded or paid because the
commanders only wanted to build a wall of trust
between them and the government so as to begin
the process for negotiation which will lead to the
end of the crisis.
“It is also to be noted that none of the Boko
Haram commanders has agreed to be swapped
with the Chibok girls because of certain changes
that have taken place between when they were
arrested and now.
The position of the negotiator tallies with the
claim by the Federal Government that neither
ransom was paid nor any of the sect commanders
swapped with the 21 girls.
Information Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, had
told journalists in Abuja on Thursday that the
release of the girls followed a high level of
confidence building measure between the two
parties to strike a deal.
BBOG confirms identities of rescued girls
Meanwhile, following concerns raised in some
quarters that some of the 21 Chibok girls released
on Wednesday were not among the 219 girls who
were abducted, the Bring Back Our Girls BBOG
movement has now confirmed the actual
identities of the girls.
In its Monthly Monitoring Report for October 2016
which was released during its sit-out Friday in
Abuja, BBOG said, “working with the Kibaku Area
Development Association, representatives of the
Chibok community in Abuja, we have successfully
matched the names of girls rescued with their
position on our existing list.
They are Mary Usman – 159, Jummai John – 78,
Blessing Abana – 90, Luggwa Sanda – 27,
Comfort Habila – 24, Maryam Basheer – 195,
Comfort Amos – 10, Glory Mainta – 22 and
Saratu Emmanuel – 76”. Others are, “Deborah
Ja’afaru – 123, Rahab Ibrahim – 96, Helin Musa
– 175, Maryamu Lawan – 35, Rebecca Ibrahim –
52, Asabe Goni – 100, Deborah Andrawus – 190,
Agnes Gapani – 191, Saratu Markus – 164, Glory
Dama – 139, Pindah Nuhu – 133 and Rebecca
Mallum – 86″.
Ahmadiyya commends Buhari
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat Nigeria has has
also applauded the President Muhammadu
Buhari over the release of the girls.
In a statement signed by its President, Dr.
Mashuud Fashola, the group described the bold
step as a testimony of President Buhari’s
determination to secure the lives of all Nigerians
in fulfilment of his electoral promises.
The Islamic organisation also commended
government’s efforts towards rehabilitating the
girls and rejoiced with their parents, adding that
Nigerians should be hopeful that the remaining
children would be released in due course.
It noted with satisfaction, the discipline, high
sense of duty, good conduct and patriotism
exemplified by the Nigerian security agencies in
the fight against Boko Haram.
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