The fate of the remaining Chibok girls still yet to be rescued from the enclave of the Boko Haram sect is hanging in the balance following the fall of Sambisa Forest. At the moment, the Presidency thinks there are chances they were not held in the forest after all.
According to the spokeman for the President, Mr Femi Adesina, while speaking on Channels Television said that “there is no single place which we can say is the bulwark of the Boko Haram”.
“You know their last stand was within Sambisa forest which they had occupied for some time.
“The military entered into it fully, a while back, and they gave the target that by the end of December they wanted to be done with the issue of insurgency and on Thursday, December 22, camp zero fell and that is very significant”.
A statement from the presidency had said that members of Boko Haram group were on the run, a situation critics had said was of concern, as the terrorists could run to other states in Nigeria, creating more security issues.
The president’s spokesman, however, dismissed claims that it could pose security threats, saying that a good number of the terrorists had been killed.
“Those who naturally are alive and escaped would be scattered in different places. Some would likely have gone out of the country and some would have infiltrated into camps and cities.
“That is why the President said we must not let down our guards. He has appealed to Nigerians to blow the whistle against anyone they suspect,” he stated.
On why more Chibok girls were not rescued as camp zero falls, he said: “Naturally, as the soldiers advanced into Sambisa, they were on the lookout for the girls, but it turned out that till that last camp fell, they did not see any of them. What it therefore means is that may be the girls were not being kept in the forest.
“It is likely they had been spirited out and hidden away in different parts either within or outside the country”.
Not less than 14 camps of the terrorists were destroyed within the forest that was a safe haven for the group that has in the past seven years terrorised communities in Nigeria’s northeast and communities of neighbouring countries along the northeast border.
In the last phase of the mop-up operations, the military said it rescued 1,180 persons.
The Presidency did not say what efforts would be made to free the remaining girls, but Boko Haram had, days after they were taken, said they have been married off.
The last batch of 21 girls among the abducted Chibok girls rescued in October will be in Chibok, their ancestral home for the first time since their abduction to join their families and friends in celebrating the 2016 Christmas.