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President Goodluck Jonathan

ABUJA. — President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday said over 200 pupils kidnapped by Boko Haram from their hostel at the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State, are still alive. Jonathan revealed this in an interview with the African Independent Television (AIT). The schoolgirls have spent more than 300 days in captivity since they were abducted in April 14 last year during their West African Examination Council final papers.

His statement that the girls are still being kept by Boko Haram contradicts Abubakar Shekau’s statement in a video released in October 2014 to the media that he had married off the pupils.

In a previous statement, the Boko Haram leader had threatened to sell the girls as slave brides.

Jonathan argued that if the schoolgirls had been killed, Boko Haram would have released a video showing how the girls were murdered.

Nigerian security forces are also wary of storming the main stronghold of the terrorists because they fear the insurgents may use the girls as shields. “Because they may use them as shields so we are working with the global best practices. We can’t just move in with artillery and clear the place. The good story is that they’ve not been killed. They are still alive because when terrorists kill, they display,” he said.

Jonathan contradicted his assertion during his Monday interview with the cable TV news channel, Al Jazeera that the Federal Government did not mishandle the Boko Haram insurgency, claiming that the insecurity problem did not start during his tenure. “At the beginning, we did not really estimate the capacity of Boko Haram. But over the years they continued to build their capacity with links with other terrorist groups. I believe we’ve got up to 65 per cent of what is needed to prosecute this war,” he explained. He added that the military force was winning the war against the insurgents, noting that only Madagali still remains under the control of the terrorist group in Adamawa State. — ynaija.com/Osundefender