We’ve located Chibok schoolgirls –CDS

 

The Chief of Defence Staff(CDS), Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh  has again reiterated that the Armed Forces will not apply force to rescue the Chibok schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram since April 14.

He said applying force to free the girls from their abductors would amount to their untimely death, noting that his men has located where the female students are being kept.

Badeh, who made this known while speaking with members of the Citizens Initiative for Security Awareness yesterday in Abuja, said: “If we go with force, what would happen? (they will kill them).

 So, nobody should come and say the Nigerian military does not know what it is doing. We know what we are doing, we can’t go and kill our girls in the name of trying to get them back. So, we are working”.

The CDS, said: “We want our girls back, we want our girls back; we can do it, our military can do it, but where they are held, can we go with force?

“The good news for the girls is that we know where they are, but we cannot tell you, we cannot come and tell you military secrets here. Just leave us alone, we are working, we would get the girls back.” the CDS said.

Boko Haram had on April 14 this year attacked Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State and took away over 200 students, who were writing the Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (SSCE).

They stormed the school, shooting the guards and killing one soldier. A large number of students were taken away in trucks. The female students are believed to have been held in Sambisa Forest, a stronghold of the sect.

The military later said in a statement that more than 100 of the kidnapped girls had been freed. The statement was, however, retracted, and on April 21, parents said 234 girls were missing. A number of the students escaped from the kidnappers in two groups.
According to the police, approximately 276 students were taken in the attack, while 53 escaped as of May 2.

Amnesty International had also alleged that the Nigerian military had four hours advanced warning of the kidnapping, but failed to send reinforcements to protect the school, an allegation which the Armed Forces has denied.

On May 5, a video in which Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, claimed responsibility for the kidnappings, was shown by a foreign news agency.

Shekau claimed that “Allah instructed me to sell them…I will carry out His instructions.”
Different groups and countries have since condemned the attack, with protests staged across the world to demand more government action.

The United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon and UNICEF flayed the abduction, with the Security Council warning of tough action against Boko Haram militants for abducting the girls.

The United States, Britain, France, China, among other nations, have since offered to help Nigeria secure the release of the girls. A team of military experts from the U.S. is already working with their Nigerian counterparts to end the abduction.