The Punch online reports that the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, has stated that the Nigerian security leadership has located where members of Boko Haram are holding the abducted girls who were kidnapped on April 14.
It was also stated that Badeh said the military would not use force to rescue the girls in order not to prevent the terrorists from killing them.
The military boss was said to have made this statements while receiving a solidarity rally organised by the Citizens Initiative for Security Awareness, led by its National Coordinator, Mr. Chidi Omeze, outside the Defence Headquarters, Abuja on Monday.
* The abducted schoolgirls
Badeh was quoted to have said that the Nigerian military had the capacity to bring back the abducted girls but are restrained because they do not want to use force.
He added that the military knew what it was doing and implored that Nigerians, and the world at large, should allow them to continue with their work.
Badeh opined that the military would not go and get the girls killed in desperation of bringing them back.
He said: “We want our girls back,; we want our girls back; we can do it, our military can do it but where they are held, can we go with force?
* Chief of Defence Staff, Badeh
“If we go with force, what will happen? (they will kill them). So nobody should come and say the Nigerian military does not know what it is doing. We know what we are doing, we can’t go and kill our girls in the name of trying to get them back. So we are working.
“The good news for the girls is that we know where they are but we cannot tell you, we cannot come and tell you military secrets here. Just leave us alone, we are working, we would get the girls back.”
When asked by newsmen on what he meant that the military would not use force to release the abducted girls, Badeh was silent.
On recovery of arms and ammunition by the military in various parts of the country, the CDS said the arms are alien to the Armed Forces.
He said that some foreigners were supporting the insurgents, adding that the President had said there were Al-Qaeda in West Africa.
CISA Coordinator, Chidi Omeje, said they represented ordinary Nigerians on the street who realised that no nation can stand on its own without a strong military.
This latest discovery is coming after the Nigeria government has said it would not negotiate with the Boko Haram sect on the release of the schoolgirls.
The leader of the terror group, Abubakar Shekau had stated that he would only release the girls in exchange for 'his brethren' captured by the Nigerian military.
Since that declaration, the international communities which include the US, the UK, France, China and Canada have rallied round the Nigerian government to ensure that the kidnapped schoolgirls regain their freedon alive.
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