The Nigerian Army has defended its earlier
statement that a second girl rescued by its troops
on Thursday was among the nearly 300 school
students abducted from a secondary school in
Chibok by Boko Haram.
The army dismissed reports that Serah Luka’s
name was not on the list of girls taken from the
school by the militants on April 14, 2014.
A statement from the army announcing Ms.
Luka’s rescue said she was a native of Madagali in
Adamawa State and was number 157 on the list
of the kidnapped Chibok girls.
But a community leader, Pogu Bitrus, told the
Associated Press Friday that Ms. Luka was not on
the list of 218 students still missing from the
mass abduction.
He also said the number 157 on the list was not
Serah Luka.
Mr. Bitrus suggested the rescued girl may have
been visiting older sisters at the school the night
of the kidnapping, according to the news agency.
Also, Yakubu Nkeki, the head of the Chibok
Abducted Girls Parents group, told the AFP that
his records showed only two girls with the
surname Luka.
“These are Kauna Luka Yana and Naomi Luka
Dzakwa. Among the list of parents we have only
four priests and none of them is Luka,” he was
quoted as saying.
“Among the girls none of them is from Madagali
(in Adamawa State). They were either from
Chibok, Damboa, Askira and Uba (all in Borno
state). So I can say… that this girl is not among
the abducted Chibok girls.
But Sani Usman, the spokesman of the Nigerian
Army, told PREMIUM TIMES on Friday afternoon
that the military stood by its earlier statement.
He said the army as an institution had resolved
not join issues with those who have clear “political
agenda”.
Mr. Usman said the army had verified all the
details Ms. Luka provided shortly after she was
rescued, saying only established government
institutions have the powers to confirm the
identity of a citizen.
“We cannot be dragging words with people who
have clear political agenda. The facts speak for
themselves that that girl came from Adamawa
and, beyond all reasonable doubt, she is amongst
those that were abducted on the 14th of April
2014 in Government Secondary School, Chibok.
“For anybody to wake up and say he’s the head
of Chibok community and the girl was not
amongst those kidnapped is wrong. If the
principal of that school comes out and say ‘this is
my nominal role and I don’t have such student’
then we can be debating the matter,” Mr. Usman
said.
“She is not from Chibok but Adamawa and she
may not have been on any of the unofficial lists
that said they were 249 girls or 219 girls, but she
was kidnapped and we have all the facts.”
Asked if he was certain of his claims, Mr. Usman
said “Yes, otherwise we won’t release the news to
the whole world”.
Mr. Usman urged those making the allegations to
“leave the Army out of this politics”.