Parents call for the swapping of Chibok girls for Boko Haram detainees
The April 14 2014 photo
Latest Photo as was screen-grabbed from the video released on sunday by the sect
This was as a follow up to the video of the girls as was released by the sect on Sunday.
Boko Haram captured more than 200 of the 276 final-year girls it abducted from Government Secondary School, Chibok, in Borno State, in April 2014.
Some of them escaped, but 215 girls remain missing. In May 2016, one of them, Amina Ali, was rescued.
Some of them escaped, but 215 girls remain missing. In May 2016, one of them, Amina Ali, was rescued.
Abubakar Shekau faction of the Boko Haram sect In an new video (11 minutes long) avowed that some of the girls were killed by air strikes launched by the Nigerian Air Force on their hideouts.
There in the video is a masked armed man standing in front of several girls, whom he claimed were the over 200 girls abducted from GSS Chibok in 2014.
The masked mas pronouncing the aim of the new video said it was released in other to send a message across to the parents of the abducted girls to plead with the government to release Boko Haram members in in its custody in exchange for the girls.
In his words ‘‘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 beg 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 don’t know where they are. You have been lying about these girls.
‘‘For over two years that we have been with these girls, about 40 of them have been married, some are dead as a result of airstrikes 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, all we want is for you to release our brethren, otherwise, you will never get these girls, God willing. This 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.
Meanwhile the Defence authorities have described the claim by the Boko Haram that some of the Chibok girls were killed in airstrikes by the Nigerian Air Force as propaganda.
The acting Director, Defence Information, Brig. Gen. Rabe Abubakar, speaking to news men have claimed the equipment used by the military in the bombing of the Sambisa forest had a high level of precision in hitting targets.
Adding that the insurgents were only making attempts to garner psychological trauma in the parents and citizenry against the military.
He related that the military was studying the latest video released by the insurgents to ascertain its authenticity and that the same platforms were deployed by military in the operation against pipeline vandals at Arepo and other riverine communities of Ogun and Lagos states.
In his words, “We are still assessing the video clip to confirm its authenticity or otherwise. This is an era of social media, anything can happen, anybody can crop up anything. However, we are very much alive to our responsibilities.
“The claim that the aerial bombardment was used to kill some of them is a complete propaganda; they are trying to buy time, or trying to put psychological trauma in Nigerians against the military.
“The equipment we are now using since the beginning of the new leadership of the military is a high level precision aerial equipment; just the way we did in Arepo in the Ogun, Lagos areas against vandals. The equipment was capable of the registering target and capable of hitting that target.
“The equipment was used to avoid unnecessary targets; to avoid collateral damage. So the issue of saying we are using bombs to kill Chibok girls is propaganda. They are trying to create psychological trauma in the parents and all Nigerians.”
Abubakar further stated that the decision on the exchange of the Chibok girls for Boko Haram suspects could only be taken by political leaders.
“We should not close our eyes on other people who have been rescued recently as a result of Operation Crack Down? The issue of exchange is purely for our respected political leaders. The military would continue with our operation.” he reiterated.
