TheCable clarifies report on Chibok girls’ escape

Dear readers, early morning on Wednesday, July 9, 2014, we got a call from our otherwise reliable military source who said he had some good news for us.

He said 30 of the schoolgirls kidnapped from Chibok had been rescued by hunters and brought to Nigerian soldiers overnight. He further said a young boy and a 10-year-old girl were among those handed over to the soldiers, bringing the total to 32.

The source said he had seen the girls, looking gaunt and famished, and assured us that we could go ahead and share the good news with the world. We asked him if it was possible those girls or women were not from Chibok, and he said they had been interviewed.

We followed our normal confirmation procedure for sensitive stories. However, official sources, while not denying the story outright, did not confirm it either. Calls to Chibok also produced conflicting responses. But eager to share what we thought was cheery news with our readers, we went ahead to report the story.

Although our source insists till today that his information is correct and that the girls have been moved to another location, there are yet no concrete developments, official or unofficial, to support the accuracy of the report ─ seven days after.

We are now more inclined to think that while some women might have actually escaped from Boko Haram, the Chibok schoolgirls were most likely not among them.

In view of the prevailing circumstances, we regret that we are unable to authenticate our report and sincerely apologise to readers who might have felt misled.

Going forward, we promise to take on board one or two lessons from this episode and hereby restate our commitment to professionalism in our practice of journalism.

Thank you.

TheCable Management