kidnapped inside the Government Girls Secondary School,
in Chibok, Borno State have died since Islamists extremists,
Boko Haram, perpetrated the act, latest residents report.
According to the report, since the mass abduction of the
schoolgirls on 14 April, 2014, their hometown, Chibok and
its surrounding villages are still under siege from Boko
Haram insurgents.
A health worker, who insisted on anonymity for fear of
reprisals by the extremists, informed that seven fathers of
the kidnapped girls were among 51 bodies brought to
Chibok hospital after an attack on the nearby village of
Kautakari this month.
It was also gathered from a community leader, Pogu
Bitrus, that at least four more parents have died of heart
failure, high blood pressure and other illnesses that the
community blames on trauma due to the mass abduction
100 days ago.
* Some fathers of the kidnapped schoolgirls
"One father of two of the girls kidnapped just went into a
kind of coma and kept repeating the names of his
daughters, until life left him," said Bitrus.
Only on Tuesday, 22 July, 2014, President Goodluck
Jonathan met with many parents of the 219 kidnapped
Nigerian schoolgirls and some classmates who managed to
escape from their captors.
For months the parents have been asking to see the
president and he finally agreed last week to a request from
Pakistani girls-education activist Malala Yousafzai.
* Some parents of abducted girls
Chibok, the town where the girls were kidnapped, is cut off
because of frequent attacks on the roads that are studded
with burned out vehicles. Commercial flights no longer go
into the troubled area and the government has halted
charter flights.
The Associated Press also reported that Boko Haram is
closing in on Chibok, attacking villages ever closer to the
town. Villagers who survive the assaults are swarming into
the town, swelling its population and straining resources.
* Abducted schoolgirls in a video released by Boko Haram
A presidential committee investigating the kidnappings said
219 girls are still missing. But the community says there are
more because some parents refused to give the committee
their daughters' names, fearing the stigma involved.
Most of the abducted schoolgirls are believed to be held in
the Sambisa Forest – a wildlife reserve that includes almost
impenetrably thick jungle as well as more open savannah.
* Members of Boko Haram
The forest borders on sand dunes marking the edge of the
Sahara Desert. Sightings of the girls and their captors have
been reported in neighboring Cameroon and Chad.
Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan insists his
government and military are doing everything possible to
ensure the girls' release . The Defense Ministry says it knows
where they are but fears any military campaign could lead
to their deaths.
After three months, few Chibok residents believe all the
schoolgirls will ever return home.
According to a new video released this week, the Boko
Haram leader Abubakar Shekau repeated his demands
that Jonathan release detained extremists in exchange for
the girls. An offer Jonathan has so far refused.
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