The Nigerian government is sending parents from the Chibok community of<\/p>\n
northeast Nigeria to neighbouring Cameroon to verify whether a suspected
\nfemale suicide bomber is one of the schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram
\nnearly two years ago.<\/p>\n
Garba Shehu, spokesperson for Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, said
\nthe Nigerian High Commissioner in Cameroon, Hadiza Mustapha, has been in
\ncontact with Cameroonian authorities who have shown a willingness to
\nassist the Nigerian government.<\/p>\n
The abduction of about 270 school girls by Islamic militants from a school
\nin Chibok on April 14, 2014, sparked international outrage and a campaign
\n#bringbackourgirls. While about 50 of the girls managed to escape, 219 of
\nthese girls remain missing.<\/p>\n
Military and local government sources on Friday reported that one of two
\ngirls arrested in northern Cameroon carrying explosives claimed to be one
\nof the missing Chibok schoolgirls.<\/p>\n
The girls were arrested after being stopped by local self-defence forces
\nin Limani near the border with Nigeria that has been the target of
\nfrequent suicide bombings in recent months.
\n\u201cWe hope that the Chibok parents will be able to identify the girl and
\ndetermine whether she is indeed one of their missing students,\u201d Shehu told
\nthe Thomson Reuters Foundation in a telephone interview in Abuja on
\nSaturday.<\/p>\n
Shehu said the government was keen to ascertain the girl\u2019s identity so she
\ncan be brought back to Nigeria and possibly assist the government in
\ninvestigations regarding the fate and whereabouts of the other missing
\nChibok girls.<\/p>\n
He said the two parents from Chibok selected to embark on the trip to
\nCameroon are Yakubu Nkeki, chairman of the Chibok Abducted Girls Movement,
\nand Yana Galang, the group\u2019s women leader, whose 16-year-old daughter
\nRifkatu is among the missing.<\/p>\n
The trip is being arranged by the government in partnership with the
\nMurtala Muhammed Foundation in Nigeria, a non-government organisation
\nwhich has been supporting the parents association and has offered to
\npartly sponsor the trip to avoid any delays.
\n\u201cIf it is true, we are very happy about it. If we see her with our eyes,
\nwe will know where our girls are,\u201d Galang told the Thomson Reuters
\nFoundation.<\/p>\n
Shehu said the two girls will be brought by the Cameroonian government to
\nDouala, the country\u2019s largest city, on Monday for further checks into
\ntheir identities.<\/p>\n
Former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan was criticized for his slow
\nreaction to the Chibok abductions, seen by many as indicative of his
\nresponse to Boko Haram, which at its strongest held large swathes of
\nnortheastern Nigeria.<\/p>\n
Muhammadu Buhari, who defeated Jonathan in a 2015 election, ordered a new
\ninvestigation into the kidnappings in January.<\/p>\n
Joint operations between Nigeria and neighbouring countries succeeded in
\ndriving Boko Haram from many of its strongholds last year but the
\nIslamists have stepped up cross-border attacks and suicide bombings, many
\nof them carried out by young girls.<\/p>\n
REUTERS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Nigerian government is sending parents from the Chibok community of northeast Nigeria to neighbouring Cameroon to verify whether a suspected female suicide bomber is one of the schoolgirls abducted…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n