Confusion over release of Chibok girls

RUMOURS that the Chibok girls, abducted 162 days ago, had been released  was the trend all over the social media on Tuesday.

 The excitement of Nigerians was,  however, cut short as the Defence Headquarters refuted the story earlier attributed to them by online media, including the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
The Defence headquarters, on its Twitter handle, stated that “the story circulating in respect of release of the Chibok girls is untrue. Buses drove into the barracks but conveyed other individuals.”

Few hours later, the BBC, in another story, said, “Nigeria’s military has retracted its statement that some of the schoolgirls abducted from Chibok town in April by Islamist militants had been freed.”
Army spokesman, Major-General Chris Olukolade, told the BBC there were girls in military custody, but not those from Chibok as originally thought.

Earlier, Olukolade had told the BBC that there was an ongoing exercise to release the schoolgirls taken from Chibok and that some of them were safe in a military barracks.
But he later called back to retract his statement, saying the authorities were trying to confirm the identities of the girls  in custody of the army, but they did not come from Chibok.

In recent days, there have been unconfirmed reports that the Nigerian government has been negotiating a deal with Boko Haram to exchange the abducted girls for imprisoned Islamist fighters.

Source: Tribune