A journalist, Ahmed Salkida, who claimed to have information on Chibok girls, has said they are alive, while some among them refused the compulsion to be married to their captors or be converted to Islam. Salkida had once offered to be a go-between for the federal government and the Boko Haram terrorists, in whose captivity the girls are since 2014. He apparently was reacting to President Muhammadu Buhari’s comment that the federal government had no credible intelligence on where the girls were or whether they were alive.
Salkida, in an op-ed for TheCable, advised Buhari to use state machinery to open up access to the militants
“Most of the Chibok girls, whether they are split into groups or not, are alive, multiple credible sources have told me, and if a deal to release them will weaken national security and endanger the entire country, then the federal government shouldn’t make a deal.
“I am confident that Chibok girls and other captives can return to their families if the government is half as strong-willed as some of the girls in captivity that have refused to be married out or give up their faith.
“The girls would have never backed out of any process, no matter how irritating it is. They would stay on and negotiate hard until they get a deal that will earn them their freedom and stop such abductions so that no one else can ever witness their woeful plight.” Salkida wrote.
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