“We are nevertheless studying the video clips to examine if the victims died from other causes rather from the allegation of airstrike”, said Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar via PR Nigeria.
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“The statement declaring me wanted seeks culpable grounds to punish me on account of ‘last two videos released by Boko Haram terrorists and other findings… by the Army”, said Salkida on Monday.
The statement read: “The trio have been declared wanted because they are in possession of information on the conditions and the exact location of schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram from Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, in 2014”.
In the video, released on Twitter, a Boko Haram militant can be seen standing before approximately 50 girls dressed in headscarves.
Salkida is said to have high-level contacts among the group’s leaders and is believed to have been involved in failed talks between Boko Haram and the government of former president Goodluck Jonathan. She also says that 40 have been “married” to fighters.
The kidnapping of the Chibok girls has become a hot political issue in Nigeria, with the government and military criticised for their handling of the incident and their failure to rescue any of the girls. “I’m begging our parents to meet the government to release their people so that we can be released”.
The army says it declared Ahmed Salkida and two other persons, Ahmed U Bolori and Aisha Wakil, wanted due to their alleged link with Boko Haram.
A spokesman for the Bring Back Our Girls movement, set up to demand the return of 276 schoolgirls kidnapped in April 2014, said he was “certain” of the identities of 10 other girls seen in the footage.
Since it started staging major attacks seven years ago, Boko Haram has killed more than 20,000 people and forced 2.2 million from their homes in Nigeria and neighboring countries. There has also been a resurgence of polio in areas that had been under Boko Haram’s control, as a result of the extremists’ opposition to vaccinations. “We are also being guided by the need to ensure the safety of the girls”.
“We recognize up to 10 from the video”, Abdullahi said, adding that he is waiting for confirmation from the Nigerian government and parents of the girls before releasing any more names.
Earlier this year, the Nigerian military members found one of the Chibok girls wandering the forest.
The video begins with a masked man, carrying a gun, speaking to the camera.
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Some of the girls in the video are shown holding babies.
