Presidency Confirms New Video Of Chibok Girls

The Presidency yesterday confirmed receipt of a new video showing the abducted Chibok schoolgirls pleading with President Jonathan to help rescue them from their Boko Haram captors.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, made the confirmation in an interview with CNN aired last night.

The British newspaper Mail on Sunday had reported that the video was delivered to the Presidency by a Boko Haram intermediary as 'proof of life' for the girls and to encourage the President to accede to the sect's demands.

Officials had initially denied the existence of this video.

But Okupe told CNN that he had seen the video in which the girls were pleading to be freed.

According to the Mail on Sunday, in the video, eight girls, dressed in their school uniforms of pale blue gingham, plead for release as they stand courageously in front of the camera.

'They are clearly scared, upset and trying to be brave,' the report said.

'Each of them walks in turn to a spot in front of a white sheet fixed to a crude frame between the trees.

'Four of them can be heard clearly, in their Hausa language, stating that they were taken by force and that they are hungry. A tall girl, aged about 18, says tearfully: 'My family will be so worried.' Another, speaking softly, says: 'I never expected to suffer like this in my life.'

'A third says: 'They have taken us away by force.' The fourth girl complains: 'We are not getting enough food.''

An earlier video released by Boko Haram on May 12 showed about 130 of the girls seated on the ground, dressed in hijabs, reciting the verses of the Quran.

The same video showed Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau offering to swap the schoolgirls for detained sect members.

But the Federal Government has repeatedly said it would not accede to this demand.

Dailytrust.