Expect Good News On Kidnapped Schoolgirls Soon, National Council Of State Promises

Almost three months since Islamic extremists, Boko Haram, abducted more than 200 schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State, Nigeria’s National Council of State has promised to deliver ‘some good news’ about the situation very soon.

It would be recalled that the schoolgirls were kidnapped inside the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, northeastern Nigeria on 14 April, 2014.

Since then, effort has made by the Nigerian federal government along with  assistance from the international communities to rescue the kidnapped girls from their abductors with not noticeable success.

However, it was gathered that the rescue of the girls was top of the agenda during a meeting of the National Council of State made up of past Nigerian presidents, state governors and leaders of parliament held on Tuesday, 8 July, 2014.

* Leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau

Speaking after the meeting, Governor Godwill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom said the Nigerian ‘military authorities has confirmed that efforts were being made and that very soon we will have good news.’

The governor added the question is not whether the girls can be rescued but how to do it without endangering their lives.

He said the council, which was addressed by President Goodluck Jonathan and his national security advisers, was left confident that the president and the military are ‘on top of the situation.’
It was gathered that Tuesday’s council meeting commended Nigeria’s military and security agents, who have been roundly criticized at home and abroad for their failure to swiftly rescue the girls and to curb an escalating Islamic uprising by Boko Haram that has killed thousands.

* Governor Akpabio
Last week, the Defense Ministry reported the detention of a businessman heading a ‘terrorists’ intelligence cell’ who it said ‘participated actively’ in the Chibok abductions.
Negotiations to free the girls without a fight appear to have stalled, with Boko Haram demanding the release of detained extremists in exchange for the girls. Jonathan has rejected those demands.
Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, has threatened in a video to sell the girls into slavery and as child brides if his demands are not met.
In the video, some of the girls say they have converted from Christianity to Islam.

* Members of Nigeria’s Council of State in a meeting in Abuja on Tuesday, 8 July, 2014
There also have been reports that some of them have been forced to marry their captors.
Boko Haram has been kidnapping people for more than a year but received international condemnation for the mass abductions of the Chibok girls, which has led to a worldwide movement called #BringBackOurGirls.
A United Nations, UN, report stated that over 4,000 people have been killed by the terror group while hundreds of thousands of people have been made homeless.