By Nuel Suji, Abuja – President Muhammadu Buhari Wednesday disclosed that most of the Chibok girls, abducted in April 2014 by Boko Haram, been forcefully converted to Islam by their abductors and the the “sect’s cruel leaders have married some of the girls”.
Buhari who spoke in an interview on BBC Hausa service said the girls are dispersed and were kept in units at different locations.
“They have scattered them, and are being guarded at dispersed locations. Most of the girls are Christians and were forced to embrace Islam. And the sect’s cruel leaders have married some of the girls, obviously against their wish. Others have been left to practice their religion but their condition could hardly be ascertained.
The President who further disclosed that security forces have identified the locations of the girls, however, did not state when they will be freed.
“Both ground and air security personnel in the Sambisa forest could spot where the girls are, but since the insurgents have also kidnapped housewives and other women, no one could say whether they mixed them or how they dispersed them,” the president said.
Buhari also defended his recent appointments criticised as lopsided, saying he nominated people he could trust, who had being loyal to him for years.
According to him, the appointments are in line with the provisions of the Constitution.
Buhari was widely criticised two weeks ago over the appointment of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief of Staff, Comptroller Generals of Immigration and Customs, among others all but one of whom are of northern extraction.
The outcry followed previous other appointments which were criticised as lacking “federal character”and marginalising other parts of the country.
An overwhelming majority of the President’s senior appointees are from the northern region of the country, where he comes from, and at least two are from his native Katsina State.
The South East has no appointee yet.
But Buhari said these are people well known to him and whom he can trust.
When asked to respond to the controversial appointment by the BBC, the President retorted: “This is the nature of Nigerian politics”.
“If they will do justice to me, as an elected Nigerian president, let them look at the Constitution a Nigerian president works with, there are people who will closely work with me that don’t need to be taken to the Senate,” he said.
“If I select people whom I know quite well in my political party, whom we came all the way right from the APP, CPC and APC, and have remained together in good or bad situation, the people I have confidence in and I can trust them with any post, will that amount to anything wrong? I have been with them throughout our trying times, what then is the reward of such dedication and suffering?
“They did not defect because of positions, they did not involve themselves in the pursuit of personal gains, and they accepted their fate throughout our trying moments. What is wrong if I make you the secretary (of the federal government) because I have confidence that things will go normal?”
