Since April 2014 when the pupils were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School Chibok in Borno State, a manhunt has been mounted to determine their whereabouts. However, despite the recent success of the Nigerian military in reclaiming a lot of territory from Boko Haram and in releasing hundreds of hostages, the girls have not yet been found.
Yesterday, the commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, the military offensive the finish off Boko Haram, Major General Leo Irabor, said credible military intelligence indicates that the Chibok girls are still being held in a Sambisa Forest and at a location close to the Chad-Niger border. His comments come two months after the Nigerian Air Force spokesman Group Captain Ayodele Famuyiwa, disclosed that the military had discovered the location of the girls but that the areas cannot be attacked for safety reasons.
Major General Irabor said: “The question of the Chibok girls remains a sore point in our history. We think, from the intelligence available to us, that the remaining areas that we are working to move into, is where we are hoping to be able to rescue the Chibok girls.”
He expressed a belief that following a two-year-old trail while waging war against Boko Haram’s brutal insurgency, the missing girls are now being moved in clusters so as not to attract unwanted attention. General Irabor explained that while his forces advance on the Sambisa Forest, they are also running down other leads on the whereabouts of the Chibok girls.
“But beyond that, we’re also getting some intelligence that they maybe somewhere on the Niger-Lake Chad border areas. We are working assiduously so that all of them are rescued and brought back to live in their communities and I think that the light is beginning to shine and in a short while we’ll see the light at the end of the tunnel,” General Irabor added.
However, the revelation was not well received by the former director of the Department of Security Services, Mike Ejiofor, who warned that it could jeopardise operations and safe rescue of the girls. He added that the US was highly secretive about the whereabouts of Osama Bin Ladin until he was captured and killed.
Mr Ejiofor said: “That information given by the commander is a very critical and ought not to be given out. You could recall how Osama Bin Ladin was captured and that the Americans did not give any lead to his whereabouts because if you give out such important lead, they might harm those girls."
General Irabor assured everyone that Nigeria has been working closely with the US, running operations based off air reconnaissance that they have provided. He said that this has led to clearing a significant portion along the east of the Sambisa Forest and some promising military victories.
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