‘Missing girls will return,’ Community leader replies Obasanjo

monjola sotubo

February 8, 2016 2:54 PM

The community members made the comments in response to former president, Olusegun Obasanjo's comment that the girls would never be found.

Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) campaigners look on during a protest procession marking the 500th day since the abduction of girls in Chibok, along a road in Abuja August 27, 2015. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

A leader of the Chibok community in Borno State has expressed optimism that the over 200 girls abducted from the village

The community leader made the remark in response to former president, Olusegun Obasanjo's comment that the girls would never be found.

“Obasanjo is a respected former president and retired military officer who may have his reasons for making such statement but, to us, he is entitled to his opinion, because we still believe the girls are alive and can be rescued,” a community leader, who chose to remain anonymous, told Leadership.

“Our hope lies on the fact that since their abduction, none of them has been found dead or alive; and that, to us, it is a good sign that they are alive.

We would have been worried had there been any form of report that some of the girls were found dead, or some have been rescued during the rescue operations that were carried out recently.

“Going by the activities of the Boko Haram terrorists in the last four years, one would be deceiving himself to say that they are not an intelligent lot. They know the high premium the world has placed on the need to rescue the girls; so the schoolgirls may be their priced asset for bargain when push comes to shove.

“We don’t know where they are, but we believe our girls are kept somewhere, either within or outside the country. And our prayer is that, one day, we may see them, even though we are not ruling out the fact that it is a difficult task and all of them may not be rescued at the end of the day,” he added.

Obasanjo had said, on Friday, February 5, 2016, that anyone promising to rescue the girls was telling lies.

monjola sotubo