A leader of the Kibaku Area Development Association, Dr. Allen Manasseh, has said that parents of alleged escapee Chibok girls are yet to get any official communication from the military on the purported escape of their children who have been in captivity for the past nine years.
Briefing journalists in Borno on Tuesday, Manasseh stated that there are rumours that the girls – Hauwa Mutah and Esther Markus escaped from the Boko Haram camp and are in military custody in Gwoza.
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“We as a parent’s association have yet to receive any official communication from the military relaying to us the escape of our daughters. Although we heard rumours that two Chibok girls escaped from the Sambisa Forest and are being kept in military custody in Gwoza, the military is yet to confirm that,” he said.
“The normal procedure is for the military to communicate with the parents of any girl that is recovered and also tell us when they will reunite her with the family but that has not been the case with this particular incident. Maybe the reporter got unofficial information from a military source. Maybe they will communicate with us at a later date.”
Similarly, one of the Chibok girls escapee, Hauwa Ishaya, who is currently an undergraduate student at the American University of Nigeria, Yola said she knows the said Hauwa Mutah right from their secondary school days in Chibok and while in captivity in Sambisa.
Miss Ishaya said she has a picture of them (she and Hauwa Mutah) which they snapped some time ago but she has not heard about her escape from the Boko Haram camp.
“I am presently in school in Yola but I have not heard about the escape of Hauwa Mutah. I keep in constant touch with the other girls and none of them has told me that Hauwa Mutah has escaped,” she said.
Calls and text messages to the leadership of Operation Hadin Kai Theater Command Maiduguri are yet to be responded to confirm the report of the escape and whereabouts of the girls.
If confirmed to be true, the number of Chibok girls still in captivity will be 96 out of the 276 that were abducted on April 14, 2014.
