Once again,Nigeria’s military has reversed its position and retracted its statement that some of the schoolgirls abducted from Chibok town in April by Islamist militants had been freed.

Army spokesman Brig Gen Chris Olukolade told the BBC there were girls in military custody, but not those from Chibok as originally thought.

More than 200 girls were seized by Boko Haram fighters from a boarding school in the north-eastern Borno state.

It caused worldwide outrage and sparked a social media campaign.

Protests were organised under the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls, calling on the authorities to do more to free the girls, who had gone to the school in Chibok from surrounding areas to take their final year exams.

Shortly after the abduction, Boko Haram released a video showing more than 100 of them and offering an exchange for prisoners.

In recent days there have been unconfirmed reports that the Nigerian government has been negotiating a deal with Boko Haram to exchange the abducted girls for imprisoned Islamist fighters.

Boko Haram’s name translates as “Western education is forbidden”, and it has carried out several attacks on schools and colleges, seeing them as a symbol of Western culture.

Culled from BBC