Inter-agency squabbles and a jostling for
superiority by the Nigerian army nearly marred the
release of 21 Chibok schoolgirls on Thursday,
according to tips provided by sources
knowledgeable about the complex operation.
One of the sources told SaharaReporters that agents of the
Department of State Security (DSS) had concluded the negotiation
with Boko Haram fighters to release the first batch of Chibok girl
kidnapped by the insurgent Islamist sect in April 2014 and were
invited to pick the girls inside Sambisa Forest when the Nigerian
Army was contacted to provide cover. Only a few military generals
were aware of the entire operation because they coordinated with
the DSS to visit Sambisa Forest in the middle of the night. Boko
Haram had stipulated that no soldiers could accompany the DSS
team that would recover the 21 abducted girls.
However, to be on the safe side, the Nigerian government asked
that some well-armed soldiers accompany the DSS officers and
some negotiators from the Switzerland government just to be on
the safe side.
As planned, and using satellite telephone from the Abuja command
center, the DSS officers traveled several miles deep into Sambisa
Forest and met with one of the top Boko Haram leaders who
brought the 21 girls.
SaharaReporters learned that the negotiations, which called for the
government team to drop an undisclosed amount of money, was
going well until the Nigerian soldiers in the contingent fired a
volley of artillery fire in an apparent effort to claim that they
rescued the girls.
The Boko Haram leader involved in the exchange of the abducted
girls pleaded with the DSS negotiators to ask the soldiers to stop
shooting. Once the soldiers stopped firing, the Boko Haram leader
asked the Nigerian contingent to switch on their full headlights.
When the lights were turned on, the Boko Haram leader who had
come with the girls asked the DSS team to look to their right. The
DSS team was stunned to see at least 150 well-armed Boko
Haram fighters hidden in the nearby bush ready to strike.
The Boko Haram team then warned the DSS negotiators that they
came prepared to die, adding that they suspected that the
government team would arrive with the Nigerian army despite the
insurgent group’s warning that they did not wish to deal with the
army at all.
With nerves calmed, the DSS then dropped the ransom money and
took the 21 girls and a baby boy born by one of them and traveled
several kilometers to Banki near Cameroon where they put the
released girls on a military aircraft.
Our sources disclosed that most military generals did not know
about the entire operation. That explained why, after
SaharaReporters broke the story of the release of the girls,
spokespersons to the Nigerian army at first said it was not true. In
a later response, the army told reporters to take whatever came
from the Presidency as the update on the condition of Chibok girls.
Another source told our correspondent that the only girl among the
rescued girls who is a mother had apparently got pregnant before
she was kidnapped in 2014. She later bore a son named Buka
Amos.
A Chibok community leader, Zannah Lang confirmed to
SaharaReporters that Deborah Ja’afaru had just got married and
pregnant when she was kidnapped by Boko Haram fighters in
2014. She delivered her baby boy in custody of Boko Haram until
her release on Thursday.
The 21 girls remain under intense medical care at the DSS clinic in
Abuja and their parents as expected to meet them on Saturday.
SaharaReporters source said they expect to enter into the next
phase of the negotiation with Boko Haram, which would involve
the exchange of high profile Boko Haram prisoners.
Culled-sahara reporters
*please I have one question ;who named the baby boy "Amos"?
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