Jonathan rejected UK offer to rescue Chibok girls

By Eric Patrick 


In the lack of response from immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan, the British Armed Forces, would have helped to rescue the 276 Chibok schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram insurgents in Borno State on April 14, 2014, the United Kingdom’s Guardian, has claimed, quoting the Observer.

According to the newspaper, in a mission named ‘Operation
Turus,’ the RAF conducted air reconnaissance over northern
Nigeria for several months, following the kidnapping of 276
girls from the town of Chibok in April 2014.

Quoting a source involved in the operation, the Observer said:
“The girls were located in the first few weeks of the RAF
mission. We offered to rescue them, but the Nigerian
government declined.


“The girls were then tracked by the aircraft as they were
dispersed into progressively smaller groups over the
 following months.’’

The claim elicited immediate response from Dr. Jonathan, who dismissed the Observer report as false and advised
‘’newspapers to always cross-check their facts before
 rushing to publish false information, especially when being spread by those who want to unfairly promote their own pride, against our own national interest.’’

Following negotiations by the President Muhammadu 
Buhari administration, some of the girls have been released 
by the airlocaptors.

However, 195 of the girls are still missing. Those who have
managed to escape from their kidnappers have told of a life 
of torture, enslavement, rape, and forced marriages in captivity.

According to reports, notes from meetings between UK and
Nigerian officials, obtained through the Freedom of InformationAct , also suggest that Nigeria shunned international offers to rescue the girls. The Guardian said while Nigeria welcomed an aid package and assistance from the US, the UK and France in looking for the girls, it viewed 
any action to be taken against kidnapping as a “national issue.”

“Nigeria’s intelligence and military services must solve the
ultimate problem,” Jonathan was quoted as saying in a
meeting with the UK’s then Africa Minister, Mark Simmonds, onMay  15, 2014.

According to ERICGOSSIP report, a document summarising a
meeting in Abuja in September 2014 between Nigeria’s
National Security Adviser and James Duddridge MP, former
Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign Office, shows Operation Turus had advanced to the point where rescue options were being discussed.

It also stated that minutes from a meeting the following month between Major-General James Chiswell and 
Jonathan, hinted at the frustration felt by those trying to prompt some action from Nigeria.

“President Jonathan was still focused on ‘platforms,’ 
General Chiswell said again we could offer advice on what equipment might make sense and how weapon systems might be best deployed,” the October 2014 document stated.

The document indicated that the Nigerian government did
 not respond to a request for comment.

The Foreign Office said: “We wouldn’t comment on specific
operational details, which are a matter for the Nigerian
government and military.”

Jonathan had drawn criticism at home and abroad for a lack of action and perceived apathy over the kidnappings.

The government was slow to mount any response in the
weeks after the girls were taken. The Governor of Borno
 State, Kashim Shettima, also publicly criticised Jonathan for failing to even call him or any other state official for 19 days after the kidnappings.

Jonathan also hit out at the worldwide #BringBackOurGirls
campaign, branding it a “manipulation” of the victims of the
attack.

Boko Haram had raided the dormitories of the government
secondary school at Chibok. The girls staying there had braved warnings of an attack to sit for their final examinations.

Boko Haram looted the school and then set it ablaze. The
kidnappings also blighted the lives of girls from the town 
who were not taken away, as many have been too scared to

continue their education.

Reacting to the report, yesterday, Jonathan, in a statement
 by his spokesman, Ikechukwu Eze, said he did not rebuff British offer to rescue the girls, adding that he gave the international community free latitude to conduct their operation.

Titled: ‘’Re: Alleged British offer to rescue Chibok schoolgirls:
Our Response,’’ the statement read: ‘’Our attention has been
drawn to a report that has been trending, without proper
attribution, to the effect that the last administration 
rebuffed British offer to rescue the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls.

‘’We wish to promptly point out that nothing can be farther
from the truth, as Nigerians are conversant with the effort
made by the Jonathan administration towards rescuing the
Chibok girls, especially in relation to collaborating with the
international community, in the bid.

‘’We can confidently say that the lies in this report are self-
evident. This is because the international press as well as
 the Nigeria media actively covered the multinational efforts and collaboration, which involved some of the major powers
deploying their crack intelligence officers to work with our own
security operatives, and those of our neighbours.

‘’In the course of the mission, the international team, including
members from Nigeria’s neighbours of Chad, Niger and
Cameroun, met regularly with our own operatives to plan and
conduct their operations.

‘’In fact, the Jonathan administration was so genuinely
supportive that the foreign powers involved were granted
permission to overfly our airspace, while conducting the search and rescue missions.

We would wish to recall that this collaboration was made
possible following letters personally written by former President Jonathan to President Barack Obama of the 
United States, President Francois Hollande of France, Mr. David Cameron, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, as well as personal contacts made to the Governments of Israel and China, seeking their assistance in the search for the abducted Chibok girls.

‘’We are, however, not surprised that this kind of concocted
story is coming out at this point in time, as it appears that
some people who have obviously been playing politics with the issue of the Chibok girls will stop at nothing to further
 their interest.

‘’Again, we ask the newspapers to always cross-check 
their facts before rushing to publish false information, especially when being spread by those who want to unfairly promote their own pride, against our own national interest.’’