Shekau has not killed Chibok girls – Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan has said on Thursday that the more than 200 female pupils kidnapped by Boko Haram from their hostel at the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State, are still alive.

Jonathan revealed this in an interview with the African Independent Television during a current affairs programme, Kaakaki.

The schoolgirls have spent more than 300 days in captivity since they were abducted in April 14 last year during their West African Examination Council final papers.

The President’s claim that the girls were still being kept by Boko Haram contradicted Abubakar Shekau’s statement in a video released in October 2014 to the media that he had married off the pupils. In a previous statement, the group’s leader had threatened to sell the girls as slave brides.

Jonathan argued that if the schoolgirls had been killed, the Boko Haram insurgents’ commander, Shekau, would have released a video showing how they the girls were murdered.

According to the President, the Nigerian security forces are also wary of storming the main stronghold of the terrorists because they fear the insurgents may use the girls as shields.

He said, “Because they may use them as shields so we are working with the global best practices. We can’t just move in with artillery and clear the place. The good story is that they’ve not been killed. They are still alive because when terrorists kill they display.”