Abuja, Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) – Contrary to media reports, Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan will not be traveling to Chibok, the town in northern Borno state where over 200 girls were abducted more than four weeks ago by the terror group Boko Haram.
Though not officially announced by the State House, local and international media reports have said the President will stop over at Chibok on his way to Paris, France, to attend a security meeting that involves the leaders of neighbouring Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, to deliberate on the Boko Haram crisis.
The reports said an advance team of the President’s entourage had already landed in Borno ahead of the visit.
But sources Friday said the President would fly straight from the capital city of Abuja to France, dispelling any plan for him to visit Chibok.
”The Presidency never said the President will travel to Chibok and we don’t know where that report came from,” the sources said.
The President’s failure to visit the scene of the abduction, which has attracted a global attention, and his delay in formally commenting on the kidnapping, have attracted widespread criticism within and outside the country.
An international effort involving many countries is currently on to find and rescue the girls, some of whom were shown in a video released by Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau on Monday.
While Shekau has said he will only release the girls in exchange for the sect’s members who are in jail across Nigeria, President Jonathan has rejected any prisoner swap.
