#BBOG : Our Girls Will Return Safely – Chibok Community Replies Olusegun Obasanjo

In response to former President, Olusegun Obasanjo's assertions that the Chibok girls may not return again, members of the community in Chibok, Borno State has dismissed Obasanjo's statement describing such as 'unstatemanly'...


The ex-military Head of State based his positions on the lackadaisical attitude of his successor, Goodluck Jonathan to move swiftly in rescue of the 219 missing school girls abducted nearly two years ago. He opined that it was impossible to rescue all the girls now, when it failed in its military operations within 72hrs of their kidnap to salvage the situation.

The leaders of Chibok community expressed disappointments over Obasanjo's comments even though they admitted that he was entitled to his own personal opinion.

One of the Chibok leaders, who craved anonymity, said they were very optimistic on the girls return despite a lack of positive information from the government thus far.

He said

"Although the silence is worrisome, but our hopes are high,no information is recorded that any of abducted Chibok girls have been identified or found dead in raids carried out at different times"

Speaking further, he said: "Obasanjo is a respected former president and retired military officer who may have his reasons for making such statement but, to us, he is entitled to his opinion, because we still believe the girls are alive and can be rescued.

"Our hope lies on the fact that since their abduction, none of them has been found dead or alive; and that, to us, it is a good sign that they are alive. We would have been worried had there been any form of report that some of the girls were found dead, or some have been rescued during the rescue operations that were carried out recently."

"Going by the activities of the Boko Haram terrorists in the last four years, one would be deceiving himself to say that they are not an intelligent lot. They know the high premium the world has placed on the need to rescue the girls; so the schoolgirls may be their priced asset for bargain when push comes to shove. We don't know where they are, but we believe our girls are kept somewhere, either within or outside the country. And our prayer is that, one day, we may see them, even though we are not ruling out the fact that it is a difficult task and all of them may not be rescued at the end of the day."

It is believed in some quarters that the Boko Haram sects were holding on to the girls as last bargaining card should the government be willing to go on a long offensive.Meanwhile, President Muuammadu Buhari has reiterated his administrations plan to continue rescue efforts at reuniting the girls with their families. He said his government was determined to dismantle the stronghold of the terrorist den and debunked claims that he was ready to negotiate with them.