NATIONAL: No escaped Chibok girls in our custody — CDS Irabor

THE Chief of Defence Staff, Major-General Leo Irabor, has debunked the rumour making the rounds that some Chibok girls who escaped from the captivity of their abductors are now in the custody of the Defence Headquarters.

Irabor said this on Sunday when he, alongside other service chiefs visited, for the first time, the theatre of the Book Haram war.

He said, “What we know is that we do not have any of the Chibok girls in our custody. So, if they are not with us, what do you want us to confirm to you? It is like you asking us to go to every home to confirm who and who lives in those homes.

“What I can tell you is that yes, we desire that all of the Chibok girls would receive their liberty and if our operations have helped those ones that have been alleged to have escaped, I think we are glad. We hope to strengthen the efforts that we are putting on in order to free the rest that are behind lines.”

Boko Haram insurgents had on April 14, 2014, attacked a Government Secondary School in Chibok, Borno, and took away over 276 schoolgirls from their hostels.

After two years in captivity, in 2016, negotiations between the insurgents and the Buhari administration led to the release of 107 in batches – one in May 2016; 21 in October 2016; and and the largest number, 82, in January 2017 – leaving 112 in captivity.