Abducted Chibok Girls Are 276 And Not 234

These four girls were among those who managed to escape after being abducted
by the gunmen

Today marks the 17day since our girls got abducted. Our prayer has been for them to be released in safety; Now the question is how many girls were abducted? How many escaped? and how many are we searching for?  

Well, at a joint press briefing which held in Maiduguri last night, the Borno State Police Command and the Department of State Service, DSS, office in the state released new figures of the missing schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram insurgents, saying 276 students and not 234 were initially taken away.

The state Police Commissioner, Lawal Tanko and the Director of DSS, Ahmed Abdullahi disclosed  this report which contradicts the earlier claims by parents of the affected girls, who said 234 of their daughters were kidnapped when the insurgents attacked the school. The CP added that 530 students from Chibok and other neighbouring towns sat for the final examinations, and that 276 were abducted, while 53 others escaped.

Happily, the former British Prime Minister, Mr. Gordon Brown, has called for international military assistance, such as air support, to be offered to the Nigerian government in the hunt for the abducted girls.

It was gathered that four different battalions comprising of all formations of the Army, including those from Signals Corps, Armoured Corps, Ordinance Corps, Intelligence Corps, Infantry Corps, Artillery Corps, Military Police Corps and the Medical Corps have been mobilised  to storm Sambisa forest and have been positioned around all the access routes into the notorious forest (North, South, East and West of the forest) so that when the troops move in from all the angles, there will be no escape route for the terrorists.

Also, fighter jets of the Nigerian Air Force and Police surveillance helicopters have been mobilised and are waiting for the command to begin the joint security operations for rescue efforts of the
 girls.

Owing to the possibily of encountering bobby traps, land mines, ambush and other unknown traps, it was gathered that Air Force fighter aircraft, helicopter gunships and Police surveillance helicopters would carry out round-the-clock missions.

Aircraft and land equipment including air ambulances, vehicles with mobile medical facilities and a considerable number of medical personnel, are said to have been deployed for the operation to ensure that casualties, if any, are quickly attended to when necessary.


It was gathered that since the forest shares borders with towns in Adamawa, Yobe, Borno and Cameroon, the different battalions would each launch their offensive from these locations.

It was further told under condition of anonymity, that because of the high caliber nature of the arms and explosives in the hands of the terrorists, the Federal Government had made available to the security forces night vision equipment.

In this regards, specially trained counter terrorist units, anti bomb discovery units, the K 9 Dog units of the Army and the Police, the landmines unit of the army and other specialised units of other security agencies are all involved in this operation,

Speaking on insinuations that most of the girls may have been moved to Chad, Cameroon or abroad by the terrorists, the security source said:
“Let us wait and see.
“All I can tell you is that since the incident happened, the borders close to Sambisa have been fortified and a lot of cordon and search operation has been going on. How they would have moved
 the girls abroad will be a mystery.”

When Vanguard expressed apprehension that a major military intervention involving air bombardments will lead to killing of the girls, the source said:
“It doesn’t necessarily follow.
“On the contrary, the terrorists are afraid. They will be fighting to save their own lives. Many of them are cowards who cannot stand the army, that’s why they look for soft targets.
“They know they won’t achieve anything injuring the girls. We feel they just wanted to get attention with the girls in their  possession. We have strategies in place to get the girls and ensure their safety if indeed they are in the forest. The plan is to rescue them alive.” 


The former UK Prime Minister said he had approached the British government to discuss the possibility of military assistance. Asked if he anticipated a positive response, he said:
“I think people will want to help, yes. The international community must do something to protect
these girls.
“We could provide military help to the Nigerians to track down the whereabouts of the girls before they’re dispersed throughout Africa— like air support, for example, if that was thought
necessary.”

Brown will meet President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja next week to discuss the abduction. He said: “I am not prepared to criticise the Nigerian government. We’re dealing with a group of terrorists who have kidnapped children.
“The sensible way of dealing with this is to help the Nigerian government.”

Source: Vanguard