credit: Punch (Kayode Idowu)
Parents of the abducted school girls have recounted their ordeal in the evil forest where they went to search for their children. The parents who spoke with journalists said the military had not rescued a single girl and that 44 of the girls who returned did so after they escaped from their abductors on their own.
The parents also said 190 girls still remained missing.
Recounting their experience in Sambisa forest, one of the parents narrated, “We saw a lot of strange things in the Sambisa forest but we will not be able to disclose all for security reasons. Borno and indeed this country require prayers from all and sundry.
“While we were in the forest with over 200 volunteers who only had cutlasses, bows, arrows and sticks, we came across different make-shift camps suspected to be owned by terrorists. It is however unfortunate that we had to turn back when we met one good Samaritan in the forest who advised us that it was in our own interest to go back because the area we were approaching in the forest was a dead zone dominated by terrorists.
“If soldiers had accompanied us to the forest, we were optimistic that our missing children would have been rescued, or we would be satisfied if we can just see the dead bodies of our daughters”.
Another parent said, “We want to seize this opportunity to thank you for the visit and identify with us at this sorrowful moment. But the truth of the matter is that only 39 out of about 250 students have so far been rescued contrary to official reports that 44 students were rescued out of 129 who were abducted as they were preparing to write their senior secondary school certificate examinations. We want to emphasise that we are not happy with this development. While we continue to pray for the safe return of our daughters, we therefore appeal to government and our security operatives to please intensify the search for our missing innocent children.”
Governor Shettima speaking with reporters said soldiers and volunteers were still combing the forest for the girls. He described the abduction of the girls as one of the most trying times of his career.