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Five telephone lines belonging to some of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls were used to call some of the parents, it was learnt yesterday.
To increase their agony after missing the calls, the anxious parents were threatened by those receiving the calls when returned the calls.
The unknown callers also gave conflicting information on their location with some claiming to be speaking from Ondo or from Cameroon.
Mr. Hosea Tsambido, Chairman Kibaku Area Development association (KADA), an Association that represents the Chibok community in Abuja, told reporters yesterday that the chairman of the Chibok girls’ parents, Yakubu Nkeki, gave him the information.
Tsambido who spoke ahead of tomorrow’s second anniversary of the girls’ abduction, added that Nkeki was threatened by the respondents and warned never to call back if he loves his life.
He said: “The speculation that a Chibok girl phoned her father is not exactly like that. It is actually the telephone numbers of about five girls that are being used to call people but when the parents call back, different people answer, some will say they are in Ondo or in Cameroon.
”All the parents that were called missed the calls,” he said.
Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima has also expressed optimism that the 276 Chibok girls will soon be united with their families.
Shettima, spoke during a visit to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Director general Sani Sidi in Abuja.
He said: “I am an optimist, and based on information at our disposal, the Chibok girls are still alive and will be united with their families soon. We are hopeful that the girls will be recovered.
“Though security falls within the area of responsibility of the federal government, the government is doing all it can not only to rescue the girls but to care for the well-being of the generality of the people. We have started rebuilding most of the communities, we are determined to rebuild all.
“The military has been doing so much in the past week which led to the influx of IDPs to our camps. Because of the successes by the military, we have over 75,000 IDPs in Zifar, 28,000 in Bama, 38,000 in Banki, 27,000 in Polka. Right now, there is an inflow of 2,300 people to Gusa today, which necessitated the visit to NEMA to solicit for the usual assistance
“As a state government, we are doing our best but NEMA has been our partner in taking care of the IDPs for the past one to two years. Within the Maiduguri metropolis alone apart from the IDPs in the camps we have 1.7million people within the host communities. Even in the best of times our people were the poorest of the poor and Boko Haram has further compounded the problem.
Borno is free now, though there are hiccups here and there but not like before again. I am not saying they are completely liberated. Peace is gradually returning to the state. By the end of the year, the people will return to their homes.
The NEMA DG assured the governor of NEMA’s assistance at all times and promised to assist in the influx of IDPs in the state.
ýBritish High Commissioner to Nigeria Paul Arkwright, said yesterday that his country will never abandon the Chibok girls.
Arkwright said his government will ensure that the Chibok girls and thousands of Nigerians held hostage by Boko Haramý in the North East are rescued.
The High Commissioner spoke when he received members of the #BringBackOurGirls (#BBOG) advocacyý. The visit was part of their global week of action.
He said: ”The United Kingdom, the British government has not abandoned the Chibok girls, we have never abandoned the Chibok girls. We are doing everything we possibly can, including in the area of intelligence to support the Nigerian government in their efforts to find the girls, what we are doing and will continue to do is to work with the Nigerian government to help locate the girls and do what we can to help release them. What I can say is that we have not forgotten the girls, I will go back to London with the very strong message that you have given to me that you are looking to London for assistance, this suffering has gone on for too long, I am concious of the fact that there are other hostages taken by Boko Haram, not just the Chibok girls, we will see what we can do for all of them and to help across all of the Northeast to see what we can do.
Former Minister of Education and leader of #BBOG, Oby Ezekwesilli urged the UK governmentý to assist in identifying the exact location of the girls.
“We want to understand the responsibility on the part of the global community as well as our own government, the United Kingdom was one of the countries that showed up when we first began to call global attention to the abduction of our girls,” she said.
Culled from The Nation