Nigerians protest to ask government to rescue their daughters
Doug Stanglin of USA TODAY reports Reports: 4 Nigerian girls escape Boko Haram captors
Bana Lawan, chairman of the Chibok Local Government Area, said on Wednesday that the four girls escaped their captors on Tuesday, both the Daily Times and Punch newspapers report.
The Premium Times earlier quoted Lawan as saying that the girls had been freed after becoming ill. The Times initially reported the release on Twitter.
Education commissioner Musa Inuwa told Reuters the four had been reunited with their parents, but he would not provide details about how they escaped.
Nigeria Chief of Defense Staff Air Marshal Alex Badeh said Tuesday that. officials know the whereabouts of the abducted girls.
Boko Haram, which has been classified as a terrorist group by the United State kidnapped approximately 270 girls and young women on April 14, while they were taking their final exams in Borno state in Nigeria. 53 had escaped on the same day.
Boko Haram has been threatening to sell girls unless the Nigerian government traded them for Islamic prisoners.
Nigeria Chief of Defense Staff Air Marshal Alex Badeh said Tuesday that. officials know the whereabouts of the abducted girl
1:58 PM PT: More reports of confusion between the Nigerian President and top military officers today. This is the most recent report other than the one above, but this largely reporting news I posted yesterday.
Corky Shemazko Nigerian military chief: we might negotiate with Boko Haram for kidnapped girls
Two days after Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan killed a deal to swap jailed Boko Haram militants for some 200 captured schoolgirls, his top military man announced they might negotiate with the Islamic fanatics after all.
"The good news for the parents of the girls is that we know where they are, but we cannot tell you," Chief of Defense Staff Air Marshal Alex Badeh said on Radio Nigeria. "We want out girls back, I can tell you that our military can and will do it. But we can't kill our girls in the name of trying to get them back."
The mixed messages outraged community leader Pogu Bitrus in the town of Chibok, where the girls were abducted April 15, who accused his government of speaking with “discordant voices.”
“If they cannot use force, the deduction is that there must be negotiation," Bitrus said. "And if their commander-in-chief, the president, is saying that he will not negotiate, then they are not on the same page."
Washington has not been able to confirm the claims by the military that the know where the girls are.
New information available from the escaped girls may change this.
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2:12 PM PT: Lanre Ola of Reuters reports 4 Kidnapped Nigerian Girls Escape Boko Haram Captors
We now have a second source from Reuters 58 minutes into this story which is good.
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, May 28 (Reuters) - Four more girls kidnapped by Boko Haram militants last month have escaped their captors, the education commissioner for Nigeria's Borno state said on Wednesday, leaving 219 still missing.
Education commissioner Musa Inuwa told Reuters by telephone the four had been reunited with their parents, but he declined to give further details of their escape.
The military has been bruised by criticism at home and abroad of its failure to protect the girls and its slow response to the hostage crisis. Badeh was quoted in the state news agency as saying the military was doing all it could to secure the girls' release.
"No matter the criticisms, the Nigerian Armed Forces will continue to do what it had sworn to do," he said. "You are aware that we have international partners working with us to release our girls and our girls will be released."
2:31 PM PT: Here is a link to and copy of the article I did on Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh.remarks yesterday.
A top Nigerian military officer claims location of kidnapped girls is known but rescue is impossible
Link to location of embedded video. William M. Welch of USA Today reports Nigeria official: Girls located but can't be rescued
Dana Ford of CNN writes that a Nigerian military official claims he knows whereabouts of kidnapped girls but says the military will not use force to try to rescue them because to do so might get them killed, saying,"We can't kill our girls in the name of trying to get them back."
"We want our girls back. I can tell you that our military can and will do it, but where they are held, can we go there with force?" asked Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh.
"Nobody should say Nigerian military does not know what it is doing; we can't kill our girls in the name of trying to get them back."
His comments were reported by the News Agency of Nigeria, a state-run news service.
Badeh continued: "The good news for the parents of the girls is that we know where they are, but we cannot tell you.
"We cannot come and tell you the military secret, just leave us alone, we are working to get the girls back," he reportedly said.
Pentagon spokesman Adm. John Kirby "told CNN U.S. officials were not able to confirm the report.'
The Nigerian military has been accused of both incompetence and cowardice by an almost continuous group of protesters since the April 14 kidnapping of approximately 276 girls and young women. Young women should be added since later interviews with some who escaped indicated they were 18 years old.
Corruption is widespread in Nigeria where top appointments are often doled out on the basis of bribery and nepotism. Previous reports say some Nigerian troops have simply refused to go out into the bush to look for the kidnapped girls and young women for fear of being killed and ambushes. This articles also reports some soldiers complaining that the "terrorists" are better armed than they are.
So, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, may just be trying to deflect criticism back to President Goodluck Marshall, whom he seems to indicate may be negotiating a deal.
This story seems to have broken about an hour ago, so if it is true, we should be hearing confirmation rumors from U.S. sources soon, which I will post in an update.
What a sad and tragic situation for this girls and young women. Our prayers and best wishes are with them, their families, all Nigerian, and all the too many other victims of kidnapping and sexual slavery which occurs daily that we hear nothing of. Let's hope for their safe return and that we can learn how to create a safer and more peaceful world for all people, and most especially our children.
6:57 PM PT: Peptide 1018 destroys biofilm in several strains of antibiotic resistant bacteria