Numbers Of Escaped Chibok Girls Increases

Bana Lawan, the Chairman of Chibok Local Government Area of Borno State, on Tuesday announced that four girls out of the 168 female students that were still held captive by the radical Islamist sect, Boko Haram have escaped.

It would be recalled that on April 14, over 234 girls were kidnapped from Government Girls Secondary School,Chibok, by Boko Haram sect members.

Speaking in Abuja at a one-day stakeholders meeting organised by the National Emergency Management Agency for validation of draft humanitarian response plan for the kidnapped girls, Lawan, who was represented by the Director for Personnel and Management, Musa Elijah, revealed that the number of escapees had risen to 57 as against 53, while 164 girls were still being held.

"The people of Chibok are anxiously waiting for the safe return of their children. Except for the unfortunate situation where two of the parents have passed on. They were known to have BP (blood pressure) issues, although I am not a medical expert, but they will not be opportuned to welcome back their daughters" Lawan said. "Latest report reaching us is that instead of 53, those that have escaped are now 57 and those remaining are 164 and not 168 as before. This is out of the 221 girls that were abducted."

The local government boss, however, stated that it was not all the girls that enrolled for the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) in the school that came to write or stayed back.

"Those that registered for the SSCE are not all that sat for the exam. Over 500 registered and those who had relatives around decided to move to various places like Kaduna and Maiduguri to write the exams. Those that were left with no relations decided to stay back to take the risk and among them 221 were abducted," he said.

Lawan further pointed out that the educational zeal of a girl child in the North-East has been greatly affected by the incident.

"The school in particular has been existing for long and the quality of education in it has been diminishing. So I want to appeal to the Federal Government, through NEMA and the presidential committee, to intervene in rebuilding the school," Lawan said.

However, according to the Nation Newspaper report on Wednesday, the Chairman was quoted as saying that the girls fell ill and were released by their abductors, while the Punch Newspaper reported that the four girls escaped from their captors.

Meanwhile, the federal government had completed plans to negotiate with the terrorist group, who demanded the release of their brethren for the kidnapped girls.

The government, however, suddenly pulled out of the talks after they had invited a Dubai-based Nigerian journalist, Ahmad Salkida, who allegedly had close tie with the founder of the sect to mediate for them.