A fresh bid has been launched by the Nigerian government to rescue the missing Chibok schoolgirls two years after they were taken from their school’s dormitory.
The Minister of Information, Mr Lai Mohammed, gave a hint about the fresh bid to rescue the Chibok girls abducted by members of the Boko Haram terrorists group on April 14, 2014.
Infighting Among Boko Haram
Mr Mohammed said that previous efforts to rescue the girls were frustrated by infighting among Boko Haram terrorists and middle men, who according to the minister exploited the process for pecuniary gains.
Over 200 female students were kidnapped from the Government Secondary School in the town of Chibok in Borno State, in northeast Nigeria, a strong hold of the terrorist group in the heat of the over six-year insurgency.
Since the abduction of the girls, pressure has been mounted on the Federal Government to rescue them, including demands for a swap with members of Boko Haram in detention.
Their abduction at that time triggered protests in different countries, making popular a slogan #BringBackOurGirls.
Prisoners Swap Request
Recently, the terrorist group released a video of the girls still in their custody and requested for prisoners swap.
After that video was released, some parents of the girls asked the government to swap the girls with the members of the sect in detention as requested.
Weeks after they made the request, President Muhammadu Buhari said the government was willing to swap the girls.
But he said the swap would be on a condition that the terrorist group would list those they wanted released and then come out to discuss with the Federal Government.
He stressed that the Federal Government would want the girls out safe without any harm done to them.
For over six years, Boko Haram has pushed for the establishment of Islamic State in the northeast and an end to Western education.
Recent military onslaught against the group has sacked them from most communities they had taken hold of within Nigeria’s territory and border towns between Cameroon, Chad and Niger Republic.
Rescued Girl
Members of the Bring Back Our Girls group, have continued to push for the rescue of the Chibok girls and increase military counter-terrorism operations in the region to rescue the girls that have been missing since two years.
One of the girls, Amina Ali, who was rescued some months back, had been married off to one of the terrorists, that had settled at a haven – Sambisa Forest. She had a baby for him.
Her husband had told the military that they had been forced out of the forest by hunger.
While the government is launching a new bid for the rescue of the military is heightening operations to clear the remnants of terrorists in the northeast and ensure safety of residents that have started to return to their communities from their Internally Displaced Persons camps.
