Chibok mum ‘recognises’ 2 girls in new video

Esther Yakubu, mother of one of the kidnapped Chibok girls, says she can identify two girls in the new video released on the second anniversary of the abductions.

Over 300 girls were kidnapped from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno state, on April 14, 2014, but many escaped when one of the trucks used to convey them to an unknown destination broke down.

A video obtained by CNN shows 15 of the girls, presumably picked from the 219 believed to still be in captivity, making appeals for them to be reunited with their families.

“I can recognise Hauwa Ishaya and Riskatu Ayuba in the video,” Yakubu told the media in Abuja on Thursday at a march to commemorate the kidnap.

Yakubu whose daughter, Dorcas, was 16 when she was abducted two years ago, urged the government to do all it could to rescue the girls now‎ that “it is obvious they are alive”.

“Now that the girls are alive, I want the government to please rescue them. I recognised some of the girls (in the video), Hauwa Ishaya and Riska‎tu Ayuba,” she said.‎

After the brief interview, Yakubu joined the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) protest march to the presidential villa.

Earlier, Oby Ezekwesili, who led the march‎, had told journalists that the group would deliver its statement at the villa gate.

President Muhammadu Buhari is in China, and will not be available to receive the group.

However, it is expected that an official of the government will receive the‎m on behalf of the president.

The civil march was in progress as of the time of this report.