…As Controversy Trails Reported Release
BEVERLY HILLS, CA, April 17, (THEWILL) – Controversy has continued to trail the number of abducted Borno school girls who reportedly escaped from their Boko Haram abductors recently as the principal of Government Girls College, Chibok, Mrs. Asabe Aliyu, said on Thursday that aside the 14 students who escaped from the insurgents on Monday night, she was not aware of any others as being claimed by the military authorities.
Debunking the claims of the Director of Information at the Defence Headquarters, Brig. Gen. Chris Olukolade, who said earlier that the 129 students. The women who spoke on BBC Hausa Service News monitored in Maiduguri said she has not had any discussion with Brig. Gen. Chris Olukolade who claimed otherwise.
Olukolade who had earlier said the abducted129 school girls had been rescued by the military and handed over to their school principal, Aliyu said there was nothing like such as none of the students was released to her as claimed by the military chief.
Describing the claim by the military as “a blatant lie,” saying “I have not spoken to the Defence Headquarters spokesman,” the principal said only the 14 students who escaped from their abductors have been freed so far.
This came as one of the parents expressed disappointment at the claim by the military, saying “We were disappointed with the statement coming from Defence Headquarters spokesman that the girls were rescued. Our children are still in bush and if the military has failed, we will go after the insurgents ourselves even if it means sacrificing our lives.”
Earlier, the Borno State governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, had disclosed at a media briefing on Wednesday that 14 students have so far escaped from their captors.
Shettima, who expressed the determination to rescue the abducted school girls, placed a N50 million gift on information that could lead to their release even as he disclosed that military operations were ongoing to get the girls freed.
The governor said though he could not give any information on the exact number of abducted students, he maintained that the registered opened at the school for complaining parents showed that 50 students were missing.
The parents of the girls had trooped to the school after the military said almost all the students have been freed as they expected to reunite with their daughters only to be told that no other students have been freed.
The parents, most of whom were said to have wept profusely at the reality on ground as they wondered what could have informed the misinformation from the Defence Headquarters.
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