Parents identify Chibok daughters in new B’Haram video

Reuters reported that about 15
girls featured in the video released to local officials on Tuesday,
saying they were from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok
and pleading with the Nigerian government to cooperate with Boko Haram
on their release.
The girls were filmed saying they were being treated well but wanted to go home and be with their families.
Boko Haram militants abducted 276
schoolgirls from Chibok exactly two years ago, with 57 students managing
to escape but 219 still missing despite a global campaign #BringBackOurGirls involving celebrities and the wife of the US President, Michelle Obama.
Reuters reported that mothers
Rifkatu Ayuba and Mary Ishaya said they recognised their daughters,
Saratu and Hauwa, in the video, while a third mother, Yana Galang,
identified five of the missing girls. Local officials said more
identifications were needed.
“The girls were looking very, very
well,” Galang said in a telephone interview with the Thomson Reuters
Foundation after viewing the video at a screening organised by local
officials in Maiduguri.
The three mothers were invited to the
viewing centre by the Chairman of Chibok Local Government Area, Bana
Lawan, who confirmed that he had paid their travel costs to Maiduguri.
“They were definitely our daughters …
all we want is for the government to bring back our girls,” said Galang,
adding all the girls were wearing hijab in the video.
No member of Boko Haram was visible in
the video and local officials were not immediately available to give
details on how they received the video.
“We only heard a man’s voice and saw his finger pointing at the girls one after the other,” Reuters quoted Galang as saying.
She said the girls in the video spoke in Hausa language and Kibaku, the local Chibok language.
Galang said one mother, Ayuba, was
relieved to see her daughter as she had heard a rumour shortly after the
kidnapping that her daughter had been killed by Boko Haram.
“She was very happy to see her in the video … her daughter is alive,” Galang said.
Shehu Sani urges negotiation with sect
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