Chibok leaders to FG: Abducted girls must be rescued, whether they like it or not

Leaders of Chibok community, under the aegis of Kibaku (Chibok) area development association, have urged the federal government to force any of the kidnapped schoolgirl unwilling to return back home.

Garba Shehu, senior special assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on media and publicity, had disclosed that one of the Chibok girls was unwilling to return with the recently freed 82 because “she has found a husband”.

In the same vein, Zannah Mustapha, a lawyer involved in the negotiations that led to the girls’ release, had also told Reuters that some of the abducted girls refused to go home.

Reacting, the community leaders urged the government to ensure the rescue of all the remaining girls.

According to PUNCH, Hosea Tsambido, chairman of Chibok community in Abuja, said the community would never accept such a claim “because the government could use it as an excuse to give up on the rescue of the other girls”.

“The girls must come out, whether they like it or not,” he said.

“The most disheartening and annoying thing is the statement credited to one of the negotiators who said some of the girls refused to come out. We don’t want to hear that, even if the girls don’t want to come out, it is not for him to advertise.

“The girls must come out, whether they like it or not; they should force them out. Just as they were forced in, they should be forced out. As their mind was changed by Boko Haram, when they return to us, we will change their mind back.”

Tsambido also stated that the attitude of the federal government towards the release of the girls was “suspicious”.

He said the government’s approach “was at variance with how it handled the rescue of the 21 schoolgirls in October last year”.

He further lamented that neither the leaders nor the parents were yet to be contacted with regards to making contact with the rescued 82 girls.

“We have still not been contacted; parents have still not been contacted. All I was told is that some people from Chibok, two district heads and the former and present chairmen of the local government area, came to Abuja and were allowed access to the girls. Some community leaders from Abuja, who went with them, were barred from entering,’’ he added.

The rescued girls are still in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS), the presidential spokesperson said on Tuesday.