No fewer than 11 parents of the more than 200
schoolgirls kidnapped inside the Government
Girls Secondary School, in Chibok, Borno State
have died since Islamists extremists, Boko
Haram, perpetrated the act, latest residents
report.

According to the report, since the mass abduction
of the schoolgirls on 14 April, 2014, their
hometown, Chibok and its surrounding villages
are still under siege from Boko Haram insurgents.
A health worker, who insisted on anonymity for
fear of reprisals by the extremists, informed that
seven fathers of the kidnapped girls were among
51 bodies brought to Chibok hospital after an
attack on the nearby village of Kautakari this
month.
It was also gathered from a community leader,
Pogu Bitrus, that at least four more parents have
died of heart failure, high blood pressure and
other illnesses that the community blames on
trauma due to the mass abduction 100 days ago.

* Some fathers of the kidnapped schoolgirls
“One father of two of the girls kidnapped just
went into a kind of coma and kept repeating the
names of his daughters, until life left him,” said
Bitrus.
Only on Tuesday, 22 July, 2014, President
Goodluck Jonathan met with many parents of the
219 kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls
and some classmates who managed to escape
from their captors.
For months the parents have been asking to see
the president and he finally agreed last week to a
request from Pakistani girls-education activist
Malala Yousafzai.

* Some parents of abducted girls
Chibok, the town where the girls were kidnapped,
is cut off because of frequent attacks on the
roads that are studded with burned out vehicles.
Commercial flights no longer go into the troubled
area and the government has halted charter
flights.
The Associated Press also reported that Boko
Haram is closing in on Chibok, attacking villages
ever closer to the town. Villagers who survive the
assaults are swarming into the town, swelling its
population and straining resources.

* Abducted schoolgirls in a video released by
Boko Haram
A presidential committee investigating the
kidnappings said 219 girls are still missing. But the
community says there are more because some
parents refused to give the committee their
daughters’ names, fearing the stigma involved.
Most of the abducted schoolgirls are believed to
be held in the Sambisa Forest – a wildlife reserve
that includes almost impenetrably thick jungle as
well as more open savannah.

* Members of Boko Haram
The forest borders on sand dunes marking the
edge of the Sahara Desert. Sightings of the girls
and their captors have been reported in
neighboring Cameroon and Chad.
Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan insists his
government and military are doing everything
possible to ensure the girls’ release
. The Defense Ministry says it knows where they
are but fears any military campaign could lead to
their deaths.
After three months, few Chibok residents believe
all the schoolgirls will ever return home.
According to a new video released this week, the
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau repeated
his demands that Jonathan release detained
extremists in exchange for the girls. An offer
Jonathan has so far refused.

Source:: www.naij.com/70095.html