Negotiation talks between the Nigerian government and Boko Haram militants on the release of the remaining Chibok girls have been set back, President Muhammadu Buhari said.
This followed disagreement between members of the terror group, Buhari said in a statement Friday.
His words:
“Unfortunately, the negotiations between the government and Boko Haram have suffered some unexpected setbacks, owing mainly to a lack of agreement among their abductors.”
“As we commemorate the 4th anniversary of the abduction of the #ChibokGirls tomorrow, April 14, let me again assure the parents and families that their daughters will never be forgotten or abandoned to their fate,” the president tweeted @MBuhari
The statement came as Nigeria marked the four-year anniversary (April 14) of the abductions in which militants seized 276 girls from a boarding school in Chibok town in Borno State, sparking a global outrage.
Some of the girls were freed last year following negotiation talks between the Nigerian government and Boko Haram.
However, more than 100 Chibok girls remain in captivity four years later.
Agonized Chibok parents still pray for missing girls, three years later.
Bring Back Our Girls group which has long campaigned for the safe return of the girls, marked the anniversary on Saturday with a march in Lagos and a lecture given by Tunde Bakare, a prominent cleric in Nigeria’s capital Abuja.
President Buhari said though it has taken so long to secure their release, government was doing its best to free the remaining girls from their abductors.
He said the return of over 100 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram from Dapchi, a town in Nigeria’s Yobe State, should reassure parents in Chibok that their daughters will return home.
“We know that this is not the news you parents want to hear after four whole years of waiting, but we want to be as honest as possible with you.
“However, this government is not relenting,” Buhari said.
.cnn