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US deploys surveillance aircraft
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Mark rules out negotiation with B/Haram
Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, yesterday declared that 54 of the over 200 female students of the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, abducted on April 14, 2014 by insurgents have been identified in the video released by Boko Haram sect leader, Abubakar Shekau on Monday.
Governor Shettima told journalists in Abuja yesterday that the affected girls had been identified by their names at an exercise that involved some parents, fellow students who included the ones that escaped from the insurgents’ den, some teachers, security men and officials of the state government.
He said the viewing of the video was led by the Chief of Staff to the Government House, Abubakar Kyari. The parents and students were conveyed to the Government House in Maiduguri to make for an open identification exercise, the governor said.
Governor Shettima spoke during a press briefing held after a peaceful procession by coalition of civil society organizations and activists under the “Bring Back Our Girls” initiative in Abuja.
The governor said:said the figures of those identified by their names were climbing as the exercise went on at the Government House in Maidugur, adding that he was briefed every 30 minutes
He said while he was addressing the demonstrators, 36 names were identified but before his press briefing an hour later, the number had reached 54 which he disclosed to journalists.
Governor Shettima on Monday directed the identification exercise should be conducted. With the chairman of Chibok Local Government Area and other government officials mandated to mass produce the video and play them before parents of the abducted girls.
He said other students, especially those who escaped from captivity, teachers and management of the school as well as Chibok leaders participated in it.
Shettima saidafter the exercise in Chibok, hecalled for another round of verification exercise at the Government to cross check the findings so as not to mislead the public.
The second exercise confirmed the preliminary exercise in Chibok.
The following names of schoolgirls have been established from the video. (SEE BOX)
Prior to Governor Shettima’s press briefing, posers were y raised over the currency of the video of the abduction saga
Most parents except two, who watched the video, which Agence French Presse, AFP, made posted, said they did not see their daughters.
According to the Cable News Network, CNN, report yesterday afternoon, the parents said when the parents of the missing girls looked at the pictures from the video, they could only identify two of them.
Security sources said that they were studying the video and the suspicion that it could be a mixture of both the abducted girls and others who may have been in the insurgents’ camp before the Chibok incident.
Chairman of the school’s Parent-Teacher Association, Dumoma Mpur, said one of the girls in the video had been identified by her mother.
The mother watched the video on television on Monday evening and saw her daughter among some 130 kidnapped girls wearing hijabs and reciting parts of the Qur’an in an unknown rural location.
“The video got parents apprehensive again after watching it but the various steps taken by the governments and the coming of the foreign troops is boosting our spirit, even though I have not seen the any one soldier in Chibok yet,” Mpur told Reuters on telephone yesterday.
Shekau said in the video that majority of the girls had been converted to Islam and those who did not could be exchanged for the insurgents held in various prisons across Nigeria.
US deploys surveillance aircraft
The Unired States, US, has hinted that it is flying manned surveillance missions over Nigeria to try to find the schoolgirls.
The US is also sharing commercial satellite imagery with the Nigerian government, officials said.
“We have shared commercial satellite imagery with Nigerians and are flying manned, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, ISR, assets over Nigeria with the government’s permission,” said a senior administration official, who declined to be named.
A team of about 30 US experts – members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, and Defence and State Departments – is in Nigeria to help with the search.
Mark rules negotiation with Boko Haram
Meanwhile, Senate President David Mark, has said the Federal Government would not negotiate with the Boko Haram sect for the release of the abducted girls.
In his reaction to Shekau”s demand for prisoner swap for the release of the girls, Mark told journalists in Beijing , China that the government would not negotiate with terrorists of which Shekau is one, under whatever circumstance,
Mark said negotiating with terrorists as proposed by Shekau over the abducted girls , may not serve any good purpose but to further give them room to wreck more havoc on both the country and the citizens without even them fulfilling any terms of agreement that may be entered into with them with no platform of trust whatsoever.
He said: Nigeria will not negotiate with terrorists under any circumstance because you don’t negotiate with criminals which Boko Haram insurgents are.
“We are doing everything possible to bring the girls back safe and sound for their parents without any negotiation with Boko Haram as every effort towards that which cannot be disclosed in the public is being made to rescue the girls,” he said.
Mark who added that he was worried about the abduction of the girls like other Nigerians, disclosed further that at the beginning of the insurgency in 2010 or thereabout, government never knew that they had international network with other terror groups of the same mission which made government position then to be largely centered on dialogue since the insurgents were largely believed to be Nigerians then.
But, Special Duties Minister Tanimu Turaki has said that if Shekau was sincere, he should send representatives for talks.
Turaki, who was the chairman of a committee set up by President Jonathan to find ways of reconciling with Boko Haram , said that Shekau should send people he trusts to meet the standing committee on reconciliation.
The minister disclosed this to the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC.
We must defeat terrorism – Jonathan, Nguesso
President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and President Denis Sassou N’guesso of the Republic of Congo yesterday called on African leaders, the African Union and its Peace and Security Council to intensify efforts at eradicating Boko Haram and other terrorist groups in the continent.
In a communiqué issued at the end of President Jonathan’s visit to Congo for consultations on regional security ahead of the tomorrow’s meeting of the African Union’s Peace and Security Council in the Congolese town, both leaders reiterated their condemnation of the Chibok abduction by Boko Haram.
Expressing their full appreciation of the international community’s support for Nigeria’s efforts to locate and rescue the abducted girls, President Jonathan and his Congolese counterpart urged the global community to remain united and steadfast in its rejection of all forms of terrorism.
At the regional level, both Presidents expressed their support for all initiatives aimed restoring peace and normalcy to the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
They also welcomed the ceasefire agreement in South Sudan and urged both parties to the conflict to respect the commitments they made in Addis Ababa on May 9, 2014.
President Jonathan who has since returned to Abuja received the outgoing High Commissioner of Gambia in Nigeria, Mrs. Angela Colley-Iheme Tuesday afternoon at the Presidential Villa.
The President commended Mrs. Colley-Iheme for her tireless efforts to maintain and enhance the long-standing cordial relations between Nigeria and Gambia. He wished her success in her future endeavours.
Mrs. Colley-Iheme thanked the President, the Federal Government and the people of Nigeria for the full support, cooperation and affection she enjoyed during her five and half years tenure in the country.
She also expressed her government’s appreciation of Nigeria’s continued support and assistance for development in Gambia.
1. Agnes Gafane
2. Saraya Stober
3. Hauwa Bitrus
4. Hajara Isa
5. Na’omi Philimun
6. Hauwa Abdu (1st Speaking)
7. Magret Yama
8. Shitta Abdu
9. Jummai Muta
10. Ladi Paul
11. Roda Peter
12. Filo Dauda
13. Godiya Bitrus
14. Saratu Tauji (2nd Speaking)
15. Ross Daniel
16. Hauwa Ali
17. Hajara Isa (Amira 3rd Speaking)
18. Luba Afga
19. Na’omi Luka
20. Saraya Emos Ali
21. Bilkisu Abdullahi
22. Mairama Ali
23. Maryam Ali Maiyanga
24. Dabora Abbas
25. Kabu Mala
26. Halima Ali
27. Yana Bukar
28. Solomi Pugu
29. Lydia Emmar
30. Luba Sanda
31. Saraya Samuel
32. Comfort Habila
33. Rejoice Shanki
34. Gloria Yaga
35. Mary Nkeki
36. Moda Baba
37. Hauwa Isuwa
38. Patient Jacob
39. Ladi Jajel
40. Abigel Bukar
41. Fanta Lawan
42. Zainabu Yaga
43. Aisha Lawan Zanna
44. Dokas Yakubu
45. Kabu Mala
46. Maryama Bashir
47. Hauwa M. Maina
48. Mary G. Dauda
49. Susana Yakubu
50. Maryam Abbas
51. Laraba John
52. Hanatu Nuhu
53. Na’ omi Bukar
54. Rifkatu Galang
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