BBOG: Chibok girls may have been moved to other locations within Sambisa

The Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) movement says there is a possibility that the Chibok girls have been relocated from Camp zairo to other locations within the vast Sambisa forest.

The BBOG movement said this is after Oby Ezekwesili and Aisha Yesufu, its leaders, completed a guided tour of the Sambisa forest with Lai Mohammed, minister for information and culture, Mansur Dan Ali, minister of defence and officers of the Nigerian Air force (NAF).

“There is no contradiction between the recovery of Camp Zero by our troops and the possibility that our girls may have been relocated to other locations within the vast Sambisa forest,” the movement said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Sambisa forest is a vast expanse of land covering several hundred square kilometres, whereas ‘Camp Zero’ is only about 2square kilometres. Whereas Camp Zero is destroyed and desolate, it represents only a fraction of the large expanse known as Sambisa forest. This explains why our troops are still in Sambisa forest even after declaring victory when Camp Zero fell.”

BBOG said it discovered that the air force had only one fighter jet in the theatre of war until recently.

“There had been only one fighter jet in the entire theatre of war until recently when four were added, with one more undergoing repairs,” it said.

It also said the government must embrace the culture of being answerable to citizens.

“The less antagonistic government acts towards those in society who scrutinise its actions and demand accountability, the faster progress [the] society makes,” it read.

“The government must open up to scrutiny. Transparency must be a key tool of the military as much as possible for winning the counter insurgency war. This becomes even more important considering the military’s chequered history of distrust with the civilian population.

“What is the state of the prosecution of those indicted in misappropriating monies for arms procurement. What assurances are there that diversions of monies meant to prosecute the ongoing war. We cannot over emphasise the importance of proper equipping and military welfare.”