Jonathan’s Govt Rescued ‘Many’ Chibok Girls But Didn’t Publicise It – Abati

Former aide to ex-president Goodluck Jonathan, Reuben Abati, says the immediate past administration secured the release of “many” Chibok school girls but did not publicise it.

Speaking while anchoring a programme on ARISE TV, Abati said former National Security Adviser, NSA, Sambo Dasuki prevented the government from publicising the release of the kidnapped Chibok girls in order to protect their identities.

Abati, who interviewed Femi Adesina, spokesman of President Muhammadu Buhari, on the show, urged the Presidential aide to confirm the information from the Department of State Services (DSS) and National Intelligence Agency (NIA).

He said: “There was headway. We (Jonathan’s government) rescued many of the girls but the advice from the NSA at the time was that we should not publicise it because of the identities of those girls. I witnessed it on many occasions. Those girls were brought to the President.

“He met with them. In fact, some of them were sent to schools in the United States and United Kingdom. There were strict instructions not to publicise it because government thought that the identities of those girls should not be exposed. But l saw you guys making a dance out of the ones you rescued.

“In our time, we rescued some girls but we were under strict instruction not to publicise it. Check the records. The DSS, the intelligence agency, you should ask them. They will have the records.”

On the night of 14–15 April 2014, 276 female students were kidnapped from the Government Secondary School in the town of Chibok in Borno State, Nigeria, by Boko Haram, an extremist terrorist organization based in northeastern Nigeria.

Since then hopes were raised on various occasions that the 219 remaining girls might be released. Reports suggested that Boko Haram was hoping to use the girls as negotiating pawns in exchange for some of their commanders in jail.

In May 2016, one of the missing girls, Amina Ali, was found. She claimed that the remaining girls were still there, but that six had died. A further 21 girls were freed in October 2016, while another was rescued the next month. Another was found in January 2017. 82 more girls were freed in May 2017. One of the girls was rescued in January 2018.

Over 100 of the school girls are believed to be in the custody of the terrorist group, with some believed to have been dead.