11 Parents Of Chibok Girls Dead Since Abductions
No fewer than 11 parents of the more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped inside the Government Girls Secondary School, in Chibok, Borno State have died since Islamists extremists, Boko Haram, perpetrated the act, latest residents report.
According to the report, since the mass abduction of the schoolgirls on 14 April, 2014, their hometown, Chibok and its surrounding villages are still under siege from Boko Haram insurgents.
A health worker, who insisted on anonymity for fear of reprisals by the extremists, informed that seven fathers of the kidnapped girls were among 51 bodies brought to Chibok hospital after an attack on the nearby village of Kautakari this month.
It was also gathered from a community leader, Pogu Bitrus, that at least four more parents have died of heart failure, high blood pressure and other illnesses that the community blames on trauma due to the mass abduction 100 days ago.
* Some fathers of the kidnapped schoolgirls
“One father of two of the girls kidnapped just went into a kind of coma and kept repeating the names of his daughters, until life left him,” said Bitrus.
Only on Tuesday, 22 July, 2014, President Goodluck Jonathan met with many parents of the 219 kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls and some classmates who managed to escape from their captors.
For months the parents have been asking to see the president and he finally agreed last week to a request from Pakistani girls-education activist Malala Yousafzai.
* Some parents of abducted girls
Chibok, the town where the girls were kidnapped, is cut off because of frequent attacks on the roads that are studded with burned out vehicles. Commercial flights no longer go into the troubled area and the government has halted charter flights.
The Associated Press also reported that Boko Haram is closing in on Chibok, attacking villages ever closer to the town. Villagers who survive the assaults are swarming into the town, swelling its population and straining resources.
* Abducted schoolgirls in a video released by Boko Haram
A presidential committee investigating the kidnappings said 219 girls are still missing. But the community says there are more because some parents refused to give the committee their daughters’ names, fearing the stigma involved.
Most of the abducted schoolgirls are believed to be held in the Sambisa Forest – a wildlife reserve that includes almost impenetrably thick jungle as well as more open savannah.
* Members of Boko Haram
The forest borders on sand dunes marking the edge of the Sahara Desert. Sightings of the girls and their captors have been reported in neighboring Cameroon and Chad.
Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan insists his government and military are doing everything possible to ensure the girls’ release. The Defense Ministry says it knows where they are but fears any military campaign could lead to their deaths.
After three months, few Chibok residents believe all the schoolgirls will ever return home.
According to a new video released this week, the Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau repeated his demands that Jonathan release detained extremists in exchange for the girls. An offer Jonathan has so far refused.
Source: Legit.ng
