I Cancelled Chibok Visit Because My focus is finding the girls, and they are not in the school’ – President Jonathan

On the school girls abducted by the insurgents in Chibok, the president thanked the international community for their assistance in the search and rescue effort so far, revealing that the major challenge facing the operation has been the deluge of misinformation about the whereabouts of the girls and the circumstances of their disappearance.

Reacting to the controversy surrounding his failure to visit Chibok, President Jonathan explained that it was not necessary for him to visit Chibok, Borno State, where over 200 girls were abducted in the Government Girls Secondary School, because the girls were not in the school, noting that his interest was to locate and rescue the girls.

He said the service chiefs had already visited the area, as he maintained that the emphasis was on the rescue of the girls abducted over a month ago.

“These girls are not held in Chibok. People want the president to go to Chibok but if the president goes to Chibok today, it does not solve any problem. The problem facing the president and indeed the Nigerian government is how to get these girls from wherever they are.

“We have deployed about 20,000 troops to the area, intensified aerial surveillance, and strengthened local intelligence resources. We shall spare no effort, we shall explore every avenue; we shall turn every stone, to ensure the return of the girls to their families and that the terrorists are defeated,” the president said, adding that the Nigerian military forces were being trained to develop the capacity to adequately deal with the threat of terror.

He also asserted that the allegation of misappropriation of funds by the military was exaggerated, though he conceded that administrative lapses may have a part to play in the inadequate funding of the war against terror.