Half of Chibok girls may never be found –Obasanjo

Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, has warned that half of nearly 300 schoolgirls abducted by the extremist Boko Haram from Chibok, Borno State, may never be found despite ongoing rescue efforts. Obasanjo told PREMIUM TIMES yesterday it would be “inconceivable” to have all the girls back, and that it would be a, “near-miracle” if that happens.“It’s inconceivable to get all of them back. If you get all of them back, I will consider it a near-miracle.

“Do you think they will hold all of them together up till now? The logistics for them to do that, holding over 200 girls together, is too much,” said the former president, who spoke by telephone from Senegal.

The remarks are likely to unnerve distraught parents, who have endured the past two months without their daughters, and have barely received firm information about their whereabouts.

According to PREMIUM TIMES, parents in Chibok last week, urged the Federal Government to negotiate with Boko Haram without delay. The girls are two days short of two months in captivity, with the captors defying a global campaign for their release.

The Nigerian government, which has faced international rebuke over its handling of the abductions, has not in the last one week, provided any new information on its effort at rescuing the girls.

Obasanjo said the Nigerian government failed to act early enough after the raid by Boko Haram sect. The best option now, he said, is for the government to negotiate with the insurgents.

It took President Goodluck Jonathan three weeks to publicly comment on the abduction and to respond by naming a “fact-finding” committee. “72 hours was already too late.

“If the administration had acted quickly, we could have rescued them. “The best it seems we can have now, is if the government agrees to negotiate, we can get half,” he said.

The former president said he had tabled his proposal to commence talks with Boko Haram before President Jonathan, but was yet to receive a feedback, saying that without a response from the authorities, no one can proceed.

“If they agree to negotiate, then, we can begin to talk with them (Boko Haram). Nobody can do anything alone.

“You cannot do it alone, it is not a one-man mission, it’s not even a two man mission. It’s a collective mission. It can even be an international mission,” he said.

Obasanjo said it is possible the government considers his proposal “irrelevant” and was moving through with another process. “I read that they are working with one Rev. Davis from Australia, who is close to the Bishop of Canterbury,” he said. “That is fine. We have to hope for the best.”