Salkida updates number of Chibok girls alive

Ahmad Salkida, the journalist who recently revealed that only 15 of the remaining Chibok girls in Boko Haram captivity were still alive, has again taken to Twitter with new update on the number.

In his series of tweets on Saturday, Salkida had said 98 of the girls had died in captivity.

“Many of the girls have died as a result of crossfire and bombardments of the security forces that no doubt were intent on rescuing them. I regret to state here that only 15 out of the 113 #Chibokgirls are alive today, based on my investigations in the last three months,” he had written.

But in new tweets on Tuesday, Salkida said two other cells within the sect brought information to him that, apart from the 15, there were girls being held alive.

“A leading member of the Jama’atu Ahlis-Sunna Lidda’Awati Wal-Jihad or BH has now clarified the earlier information about 15 girls. Indeed, the 15 #Chibokgirls are available, but known to a particular cell that spoke to me emphatically days leading to the 4th anniversary,” Salkida tweeted.

“However, two other cells within the larger group has brought additional information, clarifying the earlier information, that there are another 10 girls available to another cell. Outside of the 15 and 10, another 5 amongst the girls are also alive as at early hours of today.”

With the new information, the total number of the girls alive, according to Salkida, is 30.

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Salkida reports that the group claims the set of five girls had become permanently embedded in the doctrines of the sect and have asked not to be included in any release in the future.

The federal government had dismissed Salkida’s claim, saying the facts available to the government indicated that all the remaining girls in Boko Haram captivity were alive.

The defence headquarters, in similar vein, had also claimed the disclosure was meant to discourage the government.

But Salkida challenged the government to release a proof of life video, insisting that only 15 were alive.

He said the objective of his earlier tweets was to compel the government and Boko Haram to speak, but the government was unnecessarily defensive.

“It is most disappointing that the government in its might and given the machinery available to it, peremptorily declared to the public that it lacks institutional memory regarding the processes of the #Chibokgirls,” he wrote.

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