Negotiators Says Chibok Girls Don’t Want To Return

The Nigerian government recently negotiated the release of Chibok girls abducted by Boko Haram two years ago. It was the first major breakthrough in what has been a long and tedious process after the Buhari government promised that all the girls would be released.

Federal government negotiators are negotiating the release of 83 of the girls but negotiations have hit a snag after about 100 of the girls reportedly do not want to leave the Boko Haram.

The negotiations are brokered by the Red Cross and the Swiss government. Al Jazeera reports the chairman Pogu Bitrus of the Chibok Development Association as saying the unwilling girls may have been radicalised by Boko Haram or are ashamed to return home because they were forced to marry the fighters and have babies.

“We would prefer that they are taken away from the community and this country because the stigmatisation is going to affect them for the rest of their lives,” Bitrus said. “Even someone believed to have been abused by Boko Haram would be seen in a bad light.”