'Federal Government is still tracking Chibok Girls'

The Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed recently stated that the Federal Government was still tracking the missing Chibok girls.

The minister revealed this on a Channels TV programme, Sunrise, through a phone interview, he said the military was carefully combing the Sambisa Forest in order to locate the missing girls.

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“We are a bit constrained. I know that some countries have set fire around the Sambisa forest to smoke out the Boko Haram insurgents, but we are being careful because we are still looking for the Chibok girls and we do not want unnecessary collateral casualties.

“I know that many of our neighbours like Mali and Niger have employed certain procedures. Because of our major objective that we are still looking for the Chibok girls, so in some parts of Sambisa forest, we cannot adopt such drastic approaches.”

Lai Mohammed enjoined Nigerians to encourage the military and provide information to further dissipate the insurgents.

“People must own the war. They must report suspicious movements and complement efforts of the military. How many bars or football viewing centres in Lagos can you secure? No, but if you have enough information to beef up security, it would help,” he added.

“That is absolutely incorrect. It is possible for insurgents to lay ambush on the road. It doesn’t mean that they are in control of those local governments. I travelled 89 kilometres from Maiduguri to Bama.

“We are not saying we are going to route or eliminate ambush or attacks overnight; it’s never done in any insurgency. But what we are just giving the fact, less than a year ago, the entire Northeast was almost in their control, today they don’t have that kind of command.

“It’s just about one local government that they have swayed at all,” the minister said.

In spite of speculations that the Chibok girls have been married off or recruited as suicide bombers, the minster insist that they are still being held by the Boko Haram sect.