CONFUSION OVER ABDUCTED SCHOOL GIRLS, PARENTS INSIST 234 GIRLS STILL MISSING

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The Borno state commissioner for education and the principal of the school had claimed that 129 girls were kidnapped when the suspected Boko Haram gunmen stormed their dormitories on April 14.

Of the number, the officials said, 28 initially escaped while another 16 broke free from the abductors days later. The remaining 85 are still missing, they claimed.

However, parents told Borno state Governor, Kashim Shettima, who visited Chibok Monday, in defiance of security warnings, that by their records 234  of the pupils abducted are yet to be found.

The Nigerian military had claimed on April 16 that it freed majority of the girls.

The spokesperson of the Defence Headquarters, DHQ, Chris Olukolade, had said 107 of the girls (then believed to be missing) were freed in addition to those who initially escaped from their abductors.

Mr. Olukolade claimed that following the rescue, only eight of the girls were still held captive by the insurgents.

The principal of the affected school and officials of the Borno state government said the claims of the DHQ were untrue and that majority of the girls were still missing.

The army later withdrew their statement.

SOURCE: PREMIUM TIMES