Both the British and United States (U.S.) governments knew where some of the schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram members from Chibok but felt powerless to launch a rescue mission, it has been reported.

More than 200 girls have remained missing since 2014 when they were kidnapped by the terrorist group from a boarding school in Chibok while preparing for end-of-year exams.

Although 57 of the 276 girls managed to escape, the rest have not been seen since May 2014, when they appeared in a video reciting verses of the Koran.

But a former British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Dr Andrew Pocock, has said that a large group of the missing girls were spotted but the governments felt any rescue attempt was risky.

He told The Sunday Times: “A couple of months after the kidnapping, fly-bys and an American eye in the sky spotted a group of up to 80 girls in a particular spot in the Sambisa forest, around a very large tree, called locally the Tree of Life, along with evidence of vehicular movement and a large encampment.



“A land-based attack would have been seen coming miles away and the girls killed, an air-based rescue, such as flying in helicopters or Hercules, would have required large numbers and meant a significant risk to the rescuers and even more so to the girls.

“You might have rescued a few but many would have been killed. My personal fear was always about the girls not in that encampment — 80 were there, but 250 were taken, so the bulk were not there. What would have happened to them? You were damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”

opeyemiieblog:



http://thenationonlineng.net/western-govts-knew-chibok-schoolgirls/

opeyemiieblog:


“You might have rescued a few but many would have been killed. My personal fear was always about the girls not in that encampment — 80 were there, but 250 were taken, so the bulk were not there. What would have happened to them? You were damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”

Emekus999:
Story for d gods..drop a sleepping missile,evrybdy starts sleepping..cum down,pick all d girls and fly away.afta some minutes dey wake up

Shinyjay:
Wait a minute... Let's get things straight. Are they trying to tell us that if the girls were American or British nationals they would have folded their arms without taking necessary action? Abeg make dem stop to dey Bobo us jor... This isn't 19th century colonial Nigeria /Africa. We know what they would have done if they were personally involved. Anyway this just goes to show that only Nigerians can proffer a solution to their problems.I rest my case.

shamecurls:



You watch too much action movies

Emekus999:
Story for d gods..drop a sleepping missile,evrybdy starts sleepping..cum down,pick all d girls and fly away.afta some minutes dey wake up

Kgdavid:
If you're damned if you do and damned if you don't, then why not do and at least have some measure of control over just how dammed you are or not?

sometimes these dudes better learn to keep quiet.

Concerning a military operation to free the girls, if they actually knew where they were, then all they needed to do was encircle the camp and lay siege or to take another approach, secretly monitor the movements of the terrorists in and out of the area in order to lay ambush when they attempt to move the girls, or create a diversionary land attack that would draw out most of the enemy combatants and them swoop in with air power. I usually don't Like TO criticize military guys as i know they must know something that the public doesn't know, but given what this man has attempted to pass off as an excuse, i'm deeply dissatisfied with what i see as an extremely shoddy job at best, and at worst an expensive (in human cost) exercise in global pr.

SMH.