Parents Of Chibok Schoolgirls Claim Their Daughters Are Not in The Video

Some parents of the girls abducted in Chibok, Borno State by Boko Haram terrorists have said they did not recognize their daughters in the latest video reportedly released by the leader of Boko Haram [see here]. Abubakar Shekau claimed in the video that the kidnapped Christian students had converted to Islam, and he would trade them for Boko Haram prisoners held by the Nigerian government.

After the release of the video yesterday, Governor Shettima ordered the mass production for possible identification by parents. The governor thereafter directed the video to be shown to parents, some abducted but freed students, teachers and management staff of the school among others.

CNN reports that

Instead, some of the girls may have been taken in abductions dating back at least two years, an uncle of one of the girls who escaped and the parents of two missing girls told CNN.

Two parents have identified their daughters in the video, human rights lawyer Femi Falana told CNN Tuesday.

But it's unclear if anyone else has. Many of the relatives who watched the video released by French news agency Agence France-Presse could not identify their daughters.

Parents of the missing girls in Mbalala district and also in Chibok told CNN on Tuesday that more than 50 parents of girls abducted April 14 who watched the video did not recognize their daughters.

According to Vanguard,

Mallam Zannah Chibok, one of the parents who had seen the video said he couldn’t identify any of his daughters, pointing out that some of the faces in the video are not even students, as their ages can be put at between 30 and 40 years.

Likewise, another parent who did not want his name mentioned for security reasons, admitted that he watched the video on a cable news channel, as well as, on the social media, but to his dismay,  he couldn’t identify any of his missing daughters in it.

Also speaking to our correspondent on phone, some parents and other residents of Chibok, especially those residing in remote villages said they are yet to come across the released video, not to talk of identifying their missing children.

If there are almost 300 schoolgirls missing, and there are just over 100 in the video, it is not surprising some of the parents will not have their daughters in it. But the truth is that beyond the girls abducted from the Chibok dormitory, several other women and girls have been kidnapped by Boko Haram over the past years and months they have been wreaking havoc in that part of the country.

This may be an opportunity to get as many as possible of the women out of the clutches of Boko Haram.