UK to send warplanes to find Chibok girls

British warplanes are to be sent to Nigeria to help locate the abducted Chibok girls, it emerged yesterday.

The over 200 pupils of the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State were abducted from their hostels on April 15.

MailOnline reported yesterday that three Royal Air Force (RAF) Tornado GR4s outfitted with surveillance equipment were being deployed to fly reconnaissance missions over the Northeast.

A government source told The Times that the fighter bombers would help the Nigerian authorities by tracking the movements of Boko Haram militants.

According to the report, the mission is dependent on a nearby nation giving them permission to use a runway.

A United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (MOD) spokesman did not deny the report about the deployment of the planes, adding: “The UK continues to work with the U.S., France, Nigeria, its neighbours and international partners to provide advice and assistance to the Nigerian Government.

“Together with our allies, we have provided continuous surveillance support to the Nigerian authorities, including satellite imagery. We are still in discussion with partners on the deployment of further surveillance capability.’

In Abuja, protesters of the BringBackOurGirls (BBOG) movement said yesterday that the government owes them an apology for initially denying the abduction of the Chibok girls.

They said that when the news first broke that the girls had been abducted and they began protesting for their safe rescue, people in government accused them of lying and being sponsored by the opposition instead of squarely looking into the problem.

BBOG said in another clime, those people would have come out and publicly apologised.

A member of the group, Abubuakar Abdullahi, stated this yesterday in Abuja, at the sit-out of the group.

“We deserve an apology, at least from the people who were within government or in office that came out, or people who stood up based on the office they occupy to say that the movement was based on lies, to say that the Chibok girls had not been kidnapped, to say that it was political and all.

“I think after the committee went and did the research and found out that this was actually true and the girls had really been abducted, at least in a sane society, it would have been that we get an apology,” she said.

The group promised that whatever the cause, they would stand firmly in their advocacy and insist that the government does its duty to the citizens of the country of which the Chibok girls are a part of and fight for their safe return to their families.