Federal government of Nigerian has sent two parents from the Chibok community, Borno State to go and verify the claim a suspected female suicide bomber arrested in Cameroun at the weekend if she is indeed one of the missing school girls that were abducted by Boko Haram about two years ago.
Spokesperson for the Nigeria’s President, Garba Shehu, said the country’s High Commissioner in Cameroon, Hadiza Mustapha, has been in contact with Cameroonian authorities who have shown a willingness to assist the government.
The abduction of about 270 school girls by Islamic militants from a school in Chibok town on April 14, 2014, sparked international outrage and a campaign #bringbackourgirls. While about 50 of the girls managed to escape, 219 of these girls remain missing.
One of the two female suicide bombers that were arrested in northern Cameroon at the weekend while attempting to detonate an explosive had claimed to be among the much talked missing Chibok school girls.
The girls were arrested after been stopped by local self-defense forces in Limani near a border town with Nigeria that has been the target of frequent suicide bombings in recent months.
“We hope that the Chibok parents would be able to identify the girl and determine whether she is indeed one of their missing students,” Shehu said.
He said the government was keen to ascertain the girl’s identity so she can be brought back to Nigeria and possibly assist the government in investigations regarding the fate and whereabouts of the other missing Chibok girls.
He disclosed that two parents from Chibok selected to embark on the trip to Cameroon are Yakubu Nkeki, chairman of the Chibok Abducted Girls Movement, and Yana Galang, the group’s women leader, whose 16-year-old daughter Rifkatu is among the missing girls.
The trip is being arranged by the government in partnership with the Murtala Muhammed Foundation in Nigeria, a non-government organisation which has been supporting the parents association and has offered to partly sponsor the trip to avoid any delays.
“If it is true, we are very happy about it. If we see her with our eyes, we will know where our girls are,” Galang said.
Shehu said the two girls would be brought by the Cameroonian government to Douala, the country’s largest city for the identification.
Former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan was criticized for his slow reaction to the Chibok abductions, seen by many as indicative of his response to Boko Haram, which at its strongest held large swathes of northeastern Nigeria.
Muhammadu Buhari, who defeated Jonathan in a 2015 election, ordered a new investigation into the kidnappings in January.
Joint operations between Nigeria and neighboring countries of Chad, Niger and Cameroun had succeeded in driving Boko Haram from many of its strongholds last year, but the terrorists have stepped up their cross-border attacks and suicide bombings, many of them carried out by young girls.
