Chibok: Four Girls Listed As Abducted Are Back With Parents

            

                         One of the escapees in chibok - Photo credit: Tife Owolabi

              

 It was  learned that the Borno State Commissioner for Education, Musa Inuwa Kubo, informed the presidential committee on the abduction of schoolgirls in Chibok that four of the girls previously listed as missing had returned to their parents.
Mr. Kubo gave the revelation in a presentation last Friday to a committee set up by President Goodluck Jonathan to gather facts on the missing schoolgirls abducted April 15 by members of the extremist Islamist group, Boko Haram. The four girls were apparently part of a group of students who had escaped as their abductors transported them to an unknown location. However, they were still listed as missing as their parents had failed to report their escape and return.

The commissioner said the four girls were discovered after Governor Kashim Shettima directed the Ministry of Education to open data pages for all the missing girls, including their names and pictures, class, age as well as the pictures of their parents.
It was during the data capturing process and visits to parents of the missing schoolgirls that it was discovered that four girls who were among those declared missing had reunited with their parents, but the parents failed to inform the school authority, apparently for fear that the girls might be re-abducted.
The education commissioner was reportedly furious with the parents for keeping the government in the dark. The four girls are believed to be among those who escaped into the bush and lost their way for some time on the day of their abduction.
Mr. Kubo told members of the presidential committee in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, that with the discovery of the four girls, the number of girls confirmed to be still missing is now 219.
He told the committee that, after the April 14, 2014 abduction, the state government had made a series of announcements calling on parents whose daughters had returned to inform the government so that an accurate record could be kept about the number of missing girls. Many of the parents whose children had escaped came forward to report, but a few did not, apparently fearing that Boko Haram might attempt again to abduct their loved ones.
The clarification by the commissioner of education contradicts a claim by the chairman of the Chibok local government area, Bana Lawan, that Boko Haram recently released four abducted girls who fell sick. The News Agency of Nigeria reported today that Mr. Lawan stated that four girls were allowed to return to their parents as a result of illness. The News Agency of Nigeria reported that Mr. Lawan gave the information in Abuja at a one-day stakeholders’ meeting.
However, a source in the Borno State government told SaharaReporters that the government was not aware that Boko Haram had released any of the schoolgirls on any grounds.
A total of 276 girls were initially reported abducted based on reports by the Borno State Police Commissioner and the State Director of the State Security Service (SSS). However, Borno State officials now state that, with the four girls found to have escaped, the number of missing schoolgirls stands at 219 and the number of girls found stands at 57.