FG, Nigerian Military React To Newly Released Video By Boko Haram Showing Chibok Girls (Watch Video)

Boko Haram has released a video of the girls allegedly kidnapped two years ago, showing some who are still alive and claiming others died in air strikes.
The Nigerian armed group seized 276 students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok on the night of April 14, 2014. Fifty-seven managed to escape in the immediate aftermath. 
“They should know that their children are still in our hands,” says a man whose face was covered by a turban in the video posted on YouTube on Sunday (Today)
“The speaker said military air strikes had killed many of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls, and he asked the parents of these girls to press the government to release the groups’ fighters from prisons across Nigeria,” Idris said.

“The speaker also said that 40 of the schoolgirls were married, some were killed by airstrikes and there were several injuries.

He also used the video opportunity to assure his comrades in prison and urged them to be resilient and assured them they would be soon be freed.”
Watch video below:

Nigerian defense headquarters has issued a statement in reaction to a recent video released by Boko Haram which depicts the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls.

Statement below:

The Defence Headquarters on Sunday said it was examining the latest video from Boko Haram group purporting to show some of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls.

Some girls wearing headscarves, in the video, were seen behind a Boko Haram militant who demanded the release of fighters in return for freeing the girls. The militant also claimed that some of the girls have been killed in air strikes.

The Director Defence Information, Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar disclosed that the military is examining the video clip to verify its authenticity. He said: “Currently we are studying the video clips to verify its authenticity and analysing the comments of the speakers in the video especially the terrorist member and the girl that spoke in mother tongue.”

General Rabe also disputed allegations in the video that some of the kidnapped girls were hit by an airstrike.

He said: “It is extremely difficult and rare to hit innocent people during airstrike because the operation is done through precision attack on identified and registered targets and locations. The Precision Airstrike is very effective at taking out targeted enemies because it is not a random operation. We are nevertheless studying the video clips to examine if the victims died from other causes rather from the allegation of airstrike.

PRNigeria gathered that the Nigerian Airforce through its Component in Operation Lafiya Dole was focusing on sustaining air operations and providing support to ground troops of the Armed Forces’ strive to rid Nigeria of the Boko Haram insurgency.

Airstrikes are controlled by professionally trained officers who coordinate the strike with friendly ground troops, after a lot of surveillance to limit casualty on the ground.

A top airforce officer told PRNigeria that “Nigeria Airforce employs precision guided weapons with modern Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance systems to reduce likely collateral damage from any airstrike. All the areas stroke throughout the operation were thoroughly monitored on intelligence surveillance and eye services before the attacks or shelling. Most of the targets areas were clearly identified before the air strikes to avoid collateral damages.”

Meanwhile the Defence Headquarters has promised to issue an update after its investigation.
Similarly, the Federal Government through the Minister of Information has reacted to the video saying that is in touch with the bokoharam terrorists and they are negotiating the girls release.

Lai Mohammed said the government was doing everything possible to secure the release of the girls and to put an end to the horrible saga of their abduction.

“The government is in touch with those purportedly behind the video,” Mohammed said in a statement issued by Segun Adeyemi, his media aide.

“We are on top of the situation. But we are being extremely careful because the situation has been compounded by the split in the leadership of Boko Haram. We are also being guided by the need to ensure the safety of the girls.

“Since this is not the first time we have been contacted over the issue, we want to be doubly sure that those we are in touch with are who they claim to be.”

Mohammed expressed the hope that the latest development would signal the beginning of the end of the nightmare to which the girls, their families and indeed all Nigerians have been subjected since the unfortunate abduction‎.