Some fresh facts have emerged
on how the Federal Government succeeded in securing the release of 82
Chibok girls, who were abducted in exchange for Boko Haram commanders
last week.
It was gathered that in
exchange for the Boko Haram commanders, SaturdayTelegraph learnt that
the government ‘handsomely rewarded’ the terror group with a discharge
fee of two million Euros. This latest revelation was contained in a news
story posted by an online news portal, the British Broadcasting Service
(BBC), on its website last night.
Though the medium did not
mention its sources, it, however, reported that the ‘freed terrorists’
were highlevel Boko Haram bomb makers. The BBC noted that: “The release
of the 82 came with a price… the details of the deal are sketchy. But
they report that five senior Boko Haram militants were moved from a high
security unit to be driven to freedom.
“Sources don’t want
to be named and their version of events is hard to confirm, but they say
the men were high level Boko Haram bomb makers, and that they were
accompanied by two million euros in cash. Governments rarely admit to
paying a ransom, and this claim could not be independently verified.”
Last
week, there were news reports that the freed men had threatened to bomb
Abuja, a report which was backed up by a video released by the sect. On
the heels of the BBC revelation, reports filtered in last night that
the 82 Chibok school girls who were rescued from Boko Haram may be
reunited with their parents today barely three weeks after their
release. Since their arrival in Abuja, the girls have been kept under
protective custody in a facility believed to be under the management of
the Department of State Security Services.
Earlier in the
week, there were speculations that the reunion meeting had been
scheduled for yesterday (Friday) but Saturday Telegraph learnt that the
programme was shelved due to the logistics of moving most of the parents
who are resident in Chibok to Abuja.
Chairman of the Chibok
Community in Abuja, Mr. Tsambido Abana, told SaturdayTelegraph over the
telephone that the parents of the girls left Chibok at 9am yesterday by
road and were due on Abuja late last night or early today. According to
Abana, the journey from Chibok to Abuja is a whole day’s journey by
road.
The other alternative that could have made it swift would
have been by flight. Abana who was also on his way from Chibok said he
would arrive Abuja today but could not confirm where and when the
reunion between parents and their rescued daughters would take place.
Similarly, the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG), an advocacy group
championing the cause of the Chibok Girls have said it was not aware of
the arrangement for the said reunion.
A source in a message
posted by the group on its Whatsapp portal yesterday reads thus: “We
don’t have any information on the meeting of Chibok parents with their
returned 82 daughters aside what’s available in the media. “The last we
heard from a parent yesterday evening who said he is among those coming
was that they’ll be leaving Chibok this morning. “Chibok to Abuja is 48
hours by road, except they are coming by air. If we have information we
shall relay here in a timely manner.
Thanks.” Meanwhile, the
Presidency has confirmed that one other girl who was also abducted from
Chibok has been rescued from the hands of the terrorists. A statement
from the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr.
Femi Adesina, said the return of the girl had been confirmed by the
Office of the National Security Adviser. “Just confirmed from NSA office
that the name of the girl that escaped yesterday is Mariam Mohammed
Isa, 15, a JSS1 student kidnapped three years from the Chibok community
but not among the 219 girls,” Adesina said.
In similar
development, a leader of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) movement, Aisha
Yesufu, yesterday called on President Muhammadu Buhari to resign due to
his health issues. In a two-minute video she posted online, Yesufu said
Buhari could no longer discharge his duty as president. She said: “When
are we going to realise that this acting president thing is not working
out at all, things are stagnating in Nigeria.
For crying out
loud, the president is sick, the president is not capable of carrying
out his duty as president so why can’t he resign, sickness can happen to
anybody, nobody is wishing the president bad. “The fact that he is sick
doesn’t mean he is going to die today or tomorrow, somebody that is as
healthy as I am right now can drop dead, it’s life!.
“For crying
out loud, how long are we going to pray and watch everything go in
disarray?, Who is going to sign the 2017 budget?, we don’t know, the
report on Babachir Lawal,what’s happening to it?, why are we being held
to ransom? “President Buhari, you have got the best in this world, most
of the things you have, a lot of people dream to have that, some cannot
even afford to dream, you have been president twice, you said it
yourself you have reached the peak of your career as a military man and
as a politician so for crying out loud President Buhari, can you allow
170 million Nigerians to equally reach the peak of our careers?
“It’s
not about you Mr. President, can you just take some time off to take
care of yourself, may God give you health, What you’re going through is
Godsend, people go through that in different ways but please Mr.
President, do not allow this keep the rest of us in bondage.
“The
rest of Nigerians, it’s time we wake up, the acting president can’t do
anything, he wants to be seen as a good man, we need to take our country
back, let the president resign and if he can’t resign, let the National
Assembly do the right thing and let’s have another president, it’s not
about President Muhammadu Buhari, it’s about Nigeria because right now,
Nigeria is suffering and we cannot allow this.” This is not the first
time Yesufu is speaking about the presidency. In August 2016, she
branded President Muhammadu Buhari as a “failure” for his inability to
rescue the abducted Chibok girls.
“Mr President you are a
failure, I dare President Muhammadu Buhari, you should stand up and
behave like a man,” she had said then. Meanwhile, three male suicide
bombers were feared killed while attempting to attack a female hostel in
the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), Borno State on Thursday night.
Report
revealed that the attack which was the fourth on the school since
January was stopped by eagle-eyed security men after the bombers
attempted to enter the female hostel at 11.50pm. It was also gathered
that one of the three suicide bombers carried an AK 47 gun while at
least two bombs exploded during the attack.
During the course of
the confusion that ensued, one of the suicide bombers hurriedly
detonated the Improvised Explosive Device (IED), strapped on his body,
killing himself and injured three security men. The other two scampered
off and detonated their bombs near a construction site, close to the
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine.
Confirming the incident to the
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the spokesperson for Borno State Police
Command, Mr. Victor Isuku, said: “On May 18, 2017 at 2350hrs, three male
suicide bombers with IEDs strapped to their bodies, gained entry into
the premises of university of Maiduguri.”
from newtelegraphonline