FRESH security reports have revealed that the kidnapped Government Secondary School Chibok schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram on April 14 are being held on an island in the middle of Lake Chad.
Nearly five months ago, the girls were kidnapped from their boarding school in Borno State in the middle of the night and whisked off to an unknown location. Despite a concerted international campaign to secure their release, security agencies have been unable to locate the girls and they remain in captivity.
However, there might have been a fresh breakthrough in the search for the girls after security operatives in Baga town in Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State, revealed that they arrested two suspected Boko Haram members, who revealed the pupils' whereabouts. According to the operatives, about 132 of the Chibok girls were on the island and a surreptitious operation might be organised to rescue them and dislodge the insurgents from the location.
There are believed to be around 1,000 Boko Haram fighters in the area who are planning to take over Kukawa Local Government and establish their stronghold in that axis. This is supposed to be a prelude to launching an attack on Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, as part of plans to extend their new caliphate.
Already, the Chibok girls’ parents have called for an invasion of the area by federal government troops to rout the militants, even if it means sacrificing their daughters. Tsambido Hosea, the chairman of the Chibok Local Government Area has also revealed that the parents were seeking an end to their trauma, either through a reunion with the girls or burials.
Mr Hosea added: “If the federal government has that capacity, let it go into Sambisa. If there are some of the girls that God says would be rescued, they can be rescued by the forces and if some have gone, it is better to know than this trauma the parents are going through.”
He added that the parents wanted to bury their children, if they were dead, so that they could forge ahead with their lives, instead of living with uncertainty, not knowing if their children are dead or alive. It is still unclear if the government is prepared to mount a largescale military offensive or a covert rescue operation to free the girls
