“We Have Sighted Abducted Girls” Borno Governor
Borno State Governor, Alhaji Kashin Shetima said he has sighted the over 200 girls abducted from Government Girls Secondary Chibok, Borno State over three weeks ago.
The governor did not give specifics as to where and how the girls were spotted. But that he has passed reports of the sightings of the girls to the military for verification.
“We have reports of them being sighted”, the BBC quoted him as saying adding that he did not think the girls had been taken across the border to Chad or Cameroon. Shetima is making the disclosure at a time that findings in a meeting summoned by wife of the President, Mrs. Patience Jonathan involving all stakeholders in Borno State and Amnesty International have all indicted the governor and the military of complicity in abduction of the little girls.
It is also coming at a time when world powers have pledged both material and human support for Nigerian to fish-out the girls from their hideouts.
The latest being Israel which has promised to make its special forces available to the Nigerian governments few days after American forces landed on Nigerian soil to assist in the search and rescue operation.
Besides, the sect is also reported to have shown willingness to surrender. Desert Herald, an online newspaper claimed it received an exclusive email from the sect indicating its resolve to surrender and declare ceasefire based on certain conditions.
The statement was said to have been signed by representative of the sect, Alhaji Abu Abdulazeez, the sect demanded compensation for families of members who were not killed in the battlefield, reconstruction of Borno, freedom to worship including arrest and prosecution of former Governor of Borno State, Alhaji Ali Modu Sherif and all the officers that killed their leader and hundreds of members in 2009.
Abdulazeez was quoted as saying that the sect promised to ceasefire for a period of time but will not surrender their arms until such a time that government is able to demonstrate genuine commitment to enduring peace.
The statement however coincides with the utterance credited to the Forum of Northern Governors that the sect will dissolve in three months.