Most of the
234 Borno schoolgirls in Boko Haram captivity have been ferried abroad to Chad
and Cameroon after they were married off to sect members on N2,000 bride price
each, an elder told Daily Trust yesterday. The female students were taken from
their hostels at the Government Girls Secondary School Chibok on the night of
April 14.
About 40 had
escaped in the days after the incident, but parents and school authorities said
at least 234 of them were yet to be found. Dr. Pogu Chibok, who is the leader
of the Chibok Elders Forum, told Daily Trust yesterday that latest information
available to them indicates that most of the girls have been taken to the
neighboring Cameroon and Chad by their captors. He said before they were
ferried in canoes across the Lake Chad, a wedding ceremony was conducted at a
town on the border with Cameroon where they were married off to Boko Haram
militants.
He said
N2,000 was paid as bride price on each of the girls to the specific Boko Haram
members who took them from their school and who had assumed “ownership” of the
students. “They ferried them in canoes to Cameroon and Chad republic after they
were wedded off to Boko Haram members who bidded (sic) and paid N2,000 each as
dowries on their heads,” Bitrus said.
“The dowry
was paid to their captors, the very people who abducted them from their school.
One of them who married one of the girls took her to a border town close to
Cameroon where villagers saw her.”Following their abduction, the schoolgirls
were thought to be first taken to the Boko Haram camps in the notorious Sambisa
Forest. Reports later said villagers had seen the girls being conveyed in
trucks to other locations. Bitrus said yesterday: “So many sources have
informed us that the girls have been taken to Cameroon. Many villagers said
they saw the girls being transported in trucks and then in canoes.
“On Sunday
they were taken to Dikwa area where they (Boko Haram) have a camp there. From
there they took them to Marte, then Monguno before they were finally ferried in
canoes. It was yesterday we got this latest report of them being married off to
the insurgents by their captors.”
He said
sources in Cameroon told them that most of the girls were now being held at “an
area where the Boko Haram operates in Cameroon.”
‘Crying day
and night’
On whether
military authorities were informed about the movements of the girls, Bitrus
said: “The military was alerted on Tuesday about two weeks ago when some
villagers saw many of the girls being transported in trucks, some with even
their school uniforms. The villagers tried calling the senator representing the
zone but they couldn’t get him so they went to Bama barracks where they
reported the matter.
“At the Bama
barracks they were told that they must put it in writing, that that is the
military tradition. At that time if the military had intervened they would have
stopped them from reaching their destination. And the fact that for nearly two
weeks we have been talking about this and nothing is being done, then there are
questions we have to ask. Nobody did anything.” Bitrus sobbed as he spoke to
our reporter yesterday.
“What is
happening with the Nigerian nation? I think we demand some answers. Today it is
happening to these unfortunate girls from Chibok, tomorrow it may be somewhere
else and that is why all Nigerians must rally around us on this,” he said.“If
these captors are trying to achieve a political point, I think the best thing
is for us to try to make sure that they don’t succeed but from all indications
they are succeeding due to inaction of government. It is helping these people
in achieving their objectives.”
Earlier
yesterday, Bitrus spoke to the BBC Hausa radio saying “parents of these girls
have been angry that despite the existence of government, there has not been
concrete effort from government on the matter. “Female parents have been crying
day and night, because nobody knows what government is doing about the whole
issue. All that we read in the papers is that Nigerian Army have done this or
that.”
When
contacted over claims that the military was informed of the movement of the
schoolgirls, the Director of Defence Information, Major General Chris
Olukolade, told Daily Trust: “The concern and anxiety from all quarters is
quite understandable. Please be assured that as much as the forces may not
disclose details of action being taken to secure the freedom of the girls,
every information received on the subject is duly analyzed and acted upon as
necessary. “No information is being ignored in the concerted effort to ensure
the safety and freedom of the girls. Just pray for the successful outcome of
all efforts please.”
Source:
Daily Trust
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