Chibok girls now living in Bunkers – Says Borno State Governor

The Governor of Borno state, Kashim Shettima says there are indications that the missing Chibok girls might be living in Bunkers in Sambisa Forest with Boko Haram members. He called on the military to liberate the girls as they carry out their operations in the forest. The Governor gave the indication in a paper he wrote and was presented by the Secretary, Borno Elders Forum, Dr Bulama Mala at a two-day post election conference on security and governance, organized  the GubioSavanna Centre, a Non-Governmental Organisation, NGO, in Abuja yesterday May 19th.

"We are suspecting that Chibok girls are living with the insurgents in bunkers. I think the military must carry out their operations beyond the surface earth. They (Boko Haram) were also known to have dug tunnels to enable them move from house to house. So, having been left unchallenged for such a long time, such possibility cannot be ruled out which poses serious obstacles within the forest. The insurgents used their bases in the Sambisa Forest to launch deadly attacks and make quick retreat to their base which enabled them capture and take over control of all the local government areas bordering Nigeria with Cameroon, Chad and Niger, thus effectively cutting off the three neighbouring countries thereby declaring what they assumed was their independent territory (caliphate). Unless and only if the Sambisa Forest is effectively recovered from the terrorists, shall we think of defeating the Boko Haram and begin to embark on a holistic approach for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the North East. In fact, at several stages the Borno State Government had intervened to reconstruct destroyed schools, health centres, homes, markets and so on, only for the insurgents to attack and destroy them again. “He said