BREAKING : Goodluck Jonathan Rejected British Offer To Rescue Seized Chibok Schoolgirls – Guardian UK
Mar 5 , 2017 • By Tunde
British armed forces offered to attempt to rescue nearly 300 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram , but were rebuffed by Goodluck Jonathan , Nigeria’ s president at the time , the Observer has learned .
In a mission named Operation Turus , the RAF conducted air reconnaissance over northern Nigeria for several months , following the kidnapping of 276 girls from the town of Chibok in April 2014 . “ The girls were located in the first few weeks of the RAF mission ,” a source involved in Operation Turus told the Observer. “ We offered to rescue them , but the Nigerian government declined .”
The girls were then tracked by the aircraft as they were dispersed into progressively smaller groups over the following months , the source added .
Chibok is located in Nigeria ’s north -eastern Borno state . Today 195 of the girls are still missing . Those who have managed to escape from their kidnappers have told of a life of torture, enslavement, rape , and forced marriages in captivity.
Notes from meetings between UK and Nigerian officials , obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, also suggest that Nigeria shunned international offers to rescue the girls . While Nigeria welcomed an aid package and assistance from the US , the UK and France in looking for the girls , it viewed any action to be taken against kidnapping as a “ national issue ” .
“ Nigeria’s intelligence and military services must solve the ultimate problem , ” said Jonathan in a meeting with the UK ’ s then Africa minister, Mark Simmonds , on 15 May 2014 .
A document summarising a meeting in Abuja in September 2014 between Nigeria ’s national security adviser and James Duddridge MP , former under- secretary of state at the Foreign Office , shows Operation Turus had advanced to the point where rescue options were being discussed . Minutes from a meeting the following month between Major -General James Chiswell and Jonathan hinted at the frustration felt by those trying to prompt some action from Nigeria

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