BREAKING: Defence Headquarters retracts statement on rescue of Chibok girls, says it’s no longer sure

The Defence Headquarters has retracted its earlier statement
confirming the rescue of the abducted Chibok girls.
The spokesperson for the defence headquarters, Chris
Olukolade, had told PREMIUM TIMES that a yet unclear
number of the girls had been freed and driven in two Toyota
Hiace buses to the Maimalari Barracks, the headquarters of
the 7th Division of the Nigerian Army in Maiduguri.
But less than 30 minutes after he spoke to us, Mr. Olukolade
called back to say he was withdrawing his earlier statement.
He said he had been having difficulty establishing contact
with his colleagues in Maiduguri and that he was no longer
sure that the girls driven into the barracks were newly
rescued.
Mr. Olukolade had told this newspaper the girls had been
freed and that the rescue exercise was still ongoing and that
appropriate statement would be made later.
PREMIUM TIMES has also learnt that the girls driven into the
Maimalari barracks were those who escaped earlier from the
Boko Haram sect.
The over 200 girls, mostly teenagers, were kidnapped from
their secondary school in Chibok, Borno State, on April 14.
With the military withdrawing its statement, it now does
appear the girls are still in captivity.