By Jibrin Baba Ndace
Abuja
Hope rose considerably last night that the 219 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram in Chibok, Borno state, may have regained freedom after the military announced that it has rescued 200 girls and 93 women from the Sambisa forest yesterday.
The military, however, warned that the Chibok girls were not among the 293.
The Director of Defence Information, Major General Chris Olukolade, said in a statement yesterday: “Troops have this afternoon captured and destroyed three camps of terrorists inside the Sambisa forest and rescued 200 girls and 93 women.
“It is not yet confirmed if the girls are the Chibok girls.
“The freed persons are now being screened and profiled.”
Military spokesman, Col. Sani Usman, emphatically told The Associated Press news agency that the 293 females “are not the Chibok girls.”
Blueprint gathered that three major terrorist camps destroyed in the well-coordinated attacks included the notorious Tokumbere camp in the forest.
The Chibok girls were abducted by the militant sect on April 14, last year, causing a global campaign under the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls.
National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd.), once said the army believed that the Chibok girls had been “dispersed and sold” in accordance with Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau’s threat that his sect considered women and children as booty of war and would be enslaved and sold.
On the first anniversary of the abduction two weeks ago, Amnesty International said that at least about 2,000 women and girls were seized by Boko Haram during its bllody campaign.
The human rights group said in a report that it had documented 38 cases of abduction by the Islamists, based on testimony of dozens of eyewitnesses as well as women and girls who eventually escaped.
It said: “It is difficult to estimate how many people have been abducted by Boko Haram. The number of women and girls is likely to be higher than 2,000.”
Asked for details over yesterday’s development, Gen. Olukolade said he could not confirm the identity of the freed captives and their origin and could not state if any of them was from Chibok until after thorough screening and proper investigations.
He said: “I can only confirm the rescue this afternoon of 200 girls and 93 women in different camps in the forest.
“We are yet to determine their origin as all the freed persons are now being screened and profiled.
“Please, don’t misquote me on their origin. We will provide more details later.”
