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Esther Mutali, one of the women whose daughters were abducted by Boko Haram militants in Chibok, Borno State, today stated that three mothers have identified their children in a video released by the Islamist sect. Mrs. Mutali’s daughter, Douka Yakubu, is among 276 schoolgirls abducted from Chibok Government Girls Secondary School by members of the Islamist sect in an April 14 midnight raid that has garnered worldwide outrage.
In a telephone chat with SaharaReporters, Mrs. Mutali disclosed that the girls so far identified include two seniors from Askari Uba Secondary School and Wuyo Secondary School respectively. Both schools are near Chibok. A third girl, whose name was given as “Abdu Hauwa”, has also been identified by her mother. The source added that a fourth girl, Adiza Isah, has also been sighted in the video, making the total of identified girls four.
Mrs. Mutali said she and other mothers were saddened by earlier claims by Nigerian government officials questioning the abductions. Asked if the parents know the whereabouts of their daughters, she said they keep hearing that the girls are with the militants inside Sambisa game reserve.
The frenzy to identify the abducted girls has been heightened by claims by Allan Manasseh, a Chibok community leader, who told SaharaReporters that most parents of abducted schoolgirls were still unable to identify their children 24 hours after Boko Haram’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, released a video of the teenage girls dressed in Hijab and reciting the Qur’an.
Mr. Manasseh stated that he personally visited seven parents and also met with one of the girls who escaped from the Boko Haram militants, but none could find their daughters in the video or recognize any of the girls. He said he was worried that Boko Haram may be using the new video to distract the world from pursuing the rescue of the abducted schoolgirls.
He further stated that the video has shown that the fringe Islamist sect has many teenage girls in their possession, adding that all the girls need to be rescued by the Nigerian government forces.
SaharaReporters contacted a Borno State government official who disclosed that the state government had constituted a committee headed by the chairman of Chibok local government area to handle identification of the girls in the video. “The committee will work with the parents, relatives and friends of the missing girls to identify them,” said the official, who asked not to be named.
The state official remarked that the committee has been showing the video to many parents in different parts of Borno, Abuja, Kano and other places to which some parents have relocated since the abductions.
The official asserted that the state government strongly believes that the girls in the video are those kidnapped by Boko Haram from their school in Chibok. He noted that, since the sect only showed a partial list of girls, it was possible that some parents who did not see their daughters would naturally be disinterested in identifying others.
Meanwhile the official revealed that the state government plans to gather parents of the abducted girls living in Maiduguri and its surrounding areas to watch the video at the Government House today to enable them to identify their daughters.
