We haven't lost hope, Chibok leaders tell Obasanjo.

The leaders of Chibok community have voiced their opposition to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo's assertion that the Chibok girls abducted from their school by Boko Haram militants in 2014 are not likely to be found.

The former president had said that with the government of the day having failed to act within the 72-hour window of opportunity, there was little or no magic anyone could do now.

However, a leader in the community told LEADERSHIP that since none of the over 200 girls has been found dead or alive anywhere, there is hope that the insurgents are keeping them somewhere., probably as bargaining tools.

“Our hope lies on the fact that since their abduction, none of them has been found dead or alive; and that, to us, it is a good sign that they are alive. We would have been worried had there been any form of report that some of the girls were found dead, or some have been rescued during the rescue operations that were carried out recently.

“Going by the activities of the Boko Haram terrorists in the last four years, one would be deceiving himself to say that they are not an intelligent lot. They know the high premium the world has placed on the need to rescue the girls; so the schoolgirls may be their priced asset for bargain when push comes to shove. We don’t know where they are, but we believe our girls are kept somewhere, either within or outside the country. And our prayer is that, one day, we may see them, even though we are not ruling out the fact that it is a difficult task and all of them may not be rescued at the end of the day,” said the source.

Obasanjo had said, during an Annual Roundtable Discussion at the Obafemi Awololwo University, Ife, that “if any leader is promising to bring back the Chibok girls now, he is lying.”

President Muhammadu Buhari has repeatedly expressed his resolve to rescue the Chibok Girls at whatever cost