Update on rescue operations happening in Nigeria

May 5 , 2015 Nigeria has headed back into the news, but this time, with reports regarding the rescue of a completely unexpected number of people, previously held hostage by terrorist group Boko Haram.

So far, over 400 girls and women have been freed during an army operation in northeastern Borno, as the Nigeria ‎military continues to flush out Boko Haram strongholds in the Sambisa forest.‎‎

Tentative celebrations were cut short when the military announced on Tuesday April 26  that they did not believe that the over 200 missing schoolgirls of Chibok, were among those freed.

Defence spokesman Chris Olukolade emphasized the military’s caution on the matter, asserting that their first priority was to ensure that final checks are carried out on the rescued people.

“Some were abducted from different places and brought to the forest. In their present state it will be unfair to put too much pressure or demand on them in a way of wanting to get certain information,”

“And that means the utmost thing now is first of all to stabilise them, which is being achieved. Some of them are already explaining where they came from. Some people said they concur the Borno state government position, that they were abducted in December 2014 and brought to the forest.

“There is a group with that claim, there are others with different claims of where they came from so until this is through it is not proper for me to be categorical in saying they’re from so-and-so area and this is what we are trying to avoid.”

He also shared that operations were still ongoing by the Nigerian Army

“We are still on the mission; as I explained earlier the forest is still very vast,”

“So that is continuing and it will be premature it will be improper to be so categorical now, that either so, so number are still there or so, so number is missing. Let the operation be through; we’ll be able to see. It is then we’ll see and every aspect of the forest will be combed, every aspect. It’s not just as if the mission is one angle, I’m sure you already know the size, it’s not just a small size.

General OluKolade had earlier announced that 13 Boko Haram camps had been captured.

The Bring Back our Girls group, has shared their joy at the rescue efforts so far, but has confirmed that they will continue their sit outs

CONVENER OF BRING BACK OUR GIRLS GROUP, OBY EZKWESILI, said

“Our Chibok girls are not back, we are very delighted to welcome the ones that have been rescued. We ask that immediately a proper system of rehabilitation, reintegration and resettlement be set up for them and we ask that a proper identification be done and that all other cases of abduction that we have not been told about yet, the government will do well now to tell us who we are missing so that when they announce that they have rescued them we will know who exactly we have received back into our midst as a people.”

The Chairman, CHIBOK COMMUNITY IN ABUJA, TSAMBIDO HOSEA, very touchingly also shared both his joy and hope

“We feel very very happy about it, personally myself yesterday I couldn’t even sleep because of jubilation that if such a number has been rescued from only four camps and how many camps in the Sambisa? Many. So hopefully our own also will be rescued soon.