President Muhammadu Buhari has been urged not to facilitate the rescue of the over 200 abducted Chibok schoolgirls being held captive by Boko Haram through military operation.

A former Director at the Military Defence Headquarters, Brigadier-General Ayodele Ojo (retd.), advised the President to release Boko Haram members in exchange for the schoolgirls rather than use military operations to rescue them.

President Buhari, in a recent meeting with parents of the girls, said the nation was anxious to have the abductees back and later urged the military to use the right strategy from the ground forces to rescue the pupils.


“I had a meeting with the mothers and fathers of the Chibok girls. The nation is anxiously waiting for you to provide intelligence on their whereabouts and then, the ground forces developing the strategy and tactics to recover them,” Buhari had said penultimate Friday, during a live chat with the commanders and troops of Operation Lafiya Dole, shortly after the wreath-laying ceremony of the 2016 Armed Forces Remembrance Day Celebration in Abuja.

However, Ojo revealed that such military efforts by the Federal Government troops could jeopardise the girls’ safety.

“I personally will not canvass for a military rescue operation. Such operation is fraught with danger, no matter how meticulously or painstakingly planned. Take, for instance, the United States’ military attempt in 1980 at a rescue operation of its 52 diplomats held hostage in Iran.

“Despite the planning that went into it, the rescue operation not only failed, but it resulted in the death of eight American soldiers and the destruction of two of its military aircraft.

“Having this (botched US rescue operation) at the back of our minds and relating it to getting the Chibok girls back alive, the best option is to negotiate for their release. In doing so, the government should consider the possibility of swapping. Fortunately the President is not averse to negotiations,” Ojo said.

The ex-general suggested that, for the sake of the schoolgirls, the Federal Government should look at the possibility of acceding to Boko Haram’s demand by releasing their bomb experts to them in order to have the Chibok girls back home alive.

He noted that the US government once swapped five top Taliban commanders in exchange for the release of its soldier, Bowe Bergdahl.

Ojo added, “The Jordanian government was also prepared to swap its pilot, Lt. Muath al-Kasasbeh, captured by the Islamic State with Sajida al-Rishawi, a failed suicide bomber in the Jordanian government custody since 2005, whose release ISIS had demanded for.

“Please note that the failed suicide bomber had been in Jordanian custody for nine good years. Yet, they were prepared to swap her for their pilot. I am, therefore, pleading with the Federal Government to swap the Boko Haram bomb experts with the Chibok girls.”

UN human rights experts on Friday urged Nigeria to increase its efforts to help women and children after they have been freed from captivity by Boko Haram in the country’s conflict-riven northeast.

After a five-day visit to the region, three special rapporteurs said there was an “urgent and pressing need for effective measures to address stigma, ostracism and rejection of women and children” as a result of their captivity.


Boko Haram has used the kidnap of women and young girls as well as the forced conscription of men and boys as a tactic throughout the conflict, which is now in its seventh year.

The most high-profile abduction was of more than 200 girls from their school in the northeastern town of Chibok in April 2014, which caused global outrage.

But human rights groups have said thousands of others have been seized in recent years, forced into marriage with Islamist fighters and subject to physical and psychological abuse.

A Nigerian military fight-back throughout last year saw hundreds of victims freed from captivity and given trauma counselling at camps for displaced persons.

But despite their experience, there are fears they will be shunned when they return to their homes in the conservative, mainly Muslim region.

“Efforts at community cohesion, peace-building and reconciliation must start now and accelerate as people begin to return from displacement,” the UN team said in a statement.

Access to a “just and effective remedy” in the courts was also “paramount to their recovery and reintegration”, they added.

The three experts, who specialise in child welfare issues, contemporary slavery and healthcare, said they recognised Nigeria’s efforts to find and free those abducted.

But they said “the lack of information on the steps taken to find abducted persons, including the Chibok girls, and document cases of kidnappings and abductions remains a source of major concern”

Other measures required included rebuilding education and healthcare facilities in an area where schools have been used as camps for the displaced and hospitals bombed or set on fire.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari last month said Boko Haram had been “technically” defeated as a result of the counter-insurgency, despite continued suicide and bomb attacks.

At least 17,000 people have been killed since 2009 and more than 2.6 million made homeless by the fighting.

A federal judge on Friday rejected Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's bid for a new trial and ordered him to pay victims of the deadly attack more than $101 million in restitution.
The restitution order, issued by Judge George O'Toole Jr., is seen as largely symbolic because Tsarnaev is in federal prison and has no ability to pay.
Tsarnaev, 22, was convicted and sentenced to death last year in the 2013 attack. Two pressure cooker bombs placed near the marathon finish line by Tsarnaev and his brother killed three people and injured more than 260 others.

Tsarnaev also was convicted of killing a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer days later. During the sentencing hearing Tsarnaev admitted that he and his brother committed the bombings, and he apologized to the victims.

His brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died days after the bombing following a gunbattle with police.

The judge, in his order denying Dzhokhar Tsarnaev a new trial, noted that he and a federal appeals court had previously rejected arguments from Tsarnaev's lawyers that he could not receive a fair trial in Boston, where many people knew the victims or had connections to the marathon. The defense also cited intense and continuing local news coverage of the victims and the anniversary of the bombings.

But the judge said the victims, the trial and other marathon-related events also were covered widely by national and international news organizations.

"There is no reason to think — and certainly no specific evidence — that this extensive coverage would have been any different in kind or degree if the trial had been conducted elsewhere," he wrote in his order.

Liz Norden, the mother of two men who each lost a leg in the bombings, said she was pleased the judge denied Tsarnaev's request for a new trial.

"I personally think he did get a fair trial," she said. "He said he did it. He admitted to it. I don't know why they would even consider that what he got was not deserving."

Norden said even though it's obvious Tsarnaev won't be able to pay the restitution ordered by the judge, the order is meaningful.

"I don't think you could ever put a price tag on what any of the victims went through, but to know that the judge took a step and did that, it means something to me," she said.

Source: AP

Hundreds of parents of kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls have embarked on a peaceful march through Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

There are high emotions, as they mark 600 days since they were taken by Islamist sect, Boko Haram. Over 200 girls were kidnapped by the terrorists.

They are marching to the presidential villa where they want to meet President Muhammadu Buhari, who shocked them when he revealed recently that there was no credible intelligence to suggest where the girls were.

Video and more pictures below...