Defence
Minister, Brig-Gen. Mansur Dan-Ali (rtd), has said that it could take years to
find all the Chibok girls kidnapped by Boko Haram insurgents.
Recall that
the terrorists kidnapped the 276 students from a government secondary school in
the north-eastern town of Chibok, Borno State, on April 14, 2014. About 195 of
the girls are still missing and are believed to be in the custody of
insurgents, whose activities have caused the death of about 100,000 people
since 2009.
Speaking to
VOA’s Hausa service as reported by sun news, monitored in Yola, on Tuesday, the minister, said the
military was committed to finding the girls and is searching Boko Haram
hideouts in the Sambisa forest, a vast area covering parts of three states in
north-eastern Nigeria.
He compared
the inability to find the girls despite retaking most of the territory
initially occupied by Boko Haram to the U.S. efforts to find Osama bin Laden
after the invasion of Afghanistan.
“It took the
U.S. up to seven, eight, up to 10 years before they could get to bin Laden,” he
said. “We are continuing our campaign in the Sambisa Forest in all its nooks
and corners.”
Mr. Ali spoke
to VOA as activists marked the third anniversary of the girls’ abductions
demanding more from the federal government to free the girls.
In 2014, Boko
Haram seized control of about 14 local governments in the north-eastern states
of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe. They have since lost virtually all the territory
they occupied with the government saying they no longer control any territory
within the country.
Despite the
success, the government’s inability to find the Chibok girls is overshadowing
the military victory.
While reacting
to the abduction on the VOA programme, an Islamic cleric, Nuru Khalid, a member
of the influential Interfaith group that tries to ensure peace between Nigerian
Muslims and Christians, said failure to find the girls would translate into a
victory for Boko Haram.
“We can never
allow the terrorists to win the war. If they got [away] free with those girls,
then they have relatively won the war,” he said.
Also, a human
rights lawyer, Bulama Bukar, said the government needs to address the
psychological trauma suffered by the families of the missing girls and other
victims of Boko Haram brutality.
“Married women
have been made single again; kids have been orphaned; homeowners are without
shelter; Nigerians have been turned into refugees in their own homeland,” he
said.
President
Buhari in his statement to mark the three years abduction of the Chibok girls
had pledged that his administration will do everything possible to ensure the
freedom of the girls.
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