Dare Babalola
After spending 11 years with the abductors, the Federal Government has vowed to rescue the remaining abducted Chibok schoolgirls and Leah Sharibu.
Recall that 87 out of 276 female students of the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State who were abducted by Boko Haram in 2014 have not reunited with their loved ones.
Also, Leah Sharibu who was abducted in 2018 has remained in captivity while the other 109 female students Government Girls’ Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State based on religious sentiments.
However, the National Coordinator of the National Counter Terrorism Centre, Maj Gen Adamu Laka assured that the government will not relent in securing the release of the girls.
Laka, who spoke during a multi-agency meeting on anti-kidnapping, organised in collaboration with the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency in Abuja said, “Since when they were kidnapped, those who were rescued were not just rescued once; It was a gradual process. Negotiations were conducted to get them out. Operations were conducted.
“Luckily, at the beginning of that, towards the year after they were kidnapped, I was in the theatre, and I know what the military and intelligence agencies put into rescue the initial set of the Chibok girls.
“We haven’t given up hope on them; some of them were married to some of the insurgents. Some have come out. But let our focus not only be on the Chibok girls.
“There are others that have been kidnapped – aid workers, Nigerian aid workers who were kidnapped. We’ve rescued some that are working for UNICEF.”
According to Laka, the silence in the media did not equate to inaction or indifference from the government.
He said, “We’ve rescued some that are working for UNHCR and IOM and so on. So, we haven’t relented on our efforts.
“There is the issue of this lady, Leah Shaibu. We are not always talking about it. It doesn’t mean we don’t care. It doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten about them. We are still on it. Our prayer is that the whole 87 or 80 plus that are left will be rescued by God’s grace.”
