Jonathan: We don’t know where abducted girls are

Almost three weeks after over 200 schoolgirls were abducted from a secondary school in Chibok, Borno State, President Goodluck Jonathan has said the Federal Government does not know their   whereabouts.

Jonathan said this on Sunday during the Presidential Media Chat in Abuja.

He also spoke on the probe of the Minister of Petroleum Resources,  Diezani Alison- Madueke,  over  the N10bn  she allegedly spent on a chartered jet, the security measures in place for the World Economic Forum, the power  sector reforms and the 2015 elections.

Asked  if  there was  any confirmed information about where the  kidnapped  schoolgirls are, Jonathan replied, “None; there is none.”

The President, who said that security operatives were  currently  engaged in a massive search for the girls, explained that information so far provided to security operatives yielded nothing.

He said, “All the information that have  been volunteered to us (about their location, we’ve used) and we have searched the places. We are using aircraft – helicopters and planes – that have the ability to scan and see what is on the surface. And we have scanned, but we have nothing.”

Jonathan added that the government was not negotiating with Boko Haram or any group regarding the release  of the girls.

He said, “You can’t negotiate with somebody you don’t know; nobody has claimed knowledge of the abduction. Even on the social media that the Boko Haram uses to show what they have done…. As regards these girls, we have not seen such.  Even the spokesperson for Boko Haram has not come to tell Nigerians that they did the kidnapping. So, the issue of negotiation has not come up.”

The President, however, assured Nigerians that the government would get the girls back with the support of their parents and guardians. This, he said, was because the Police did not have records of the missing girls.

Jonathan  said, “We actually request maximum cooperation from the guardians and the parents of these girls because up till this time, they have not been able to come and give the Police clear identity of the girls that have yet to return.

“We are pleading that they should cooperate with the  government. We need the identity of these girls and wherever they are, we are talking to all the neighbouring countries – Cameroon, Chad and  Benin Republic, as well as some countries in  North Africa  – so that wherever they take these girls, we will get them back if  we get the maximum cooperation of  the  parents and guardians.”

Source: Punch