President Buhari vows 'no rest' until girls kidnapped by Boko Haram are free

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari vowed Wednesday his government will never give up until the schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram militants go free.

"There will be no rest till the last girl, whether from Chibok and (or) Dapchi, is released," Buhari said in a statement, referring to the towns where the terror group has struck in the past four years.

The Nigerian leader spoke Wednesday while visiting the Government Girls Science Technical College in Dapchi, a town in Nigeria's Yobe state where Boko Haram abducted 110 schoolgirls in a February 19 raid. It marked his first trip there since last month's attack.


In April 2014, Boko Haram sparked international outrage when it kidnapped 276 girls from a boarding school in Chibok, a town in Borno state. More than 100 of these girls remain in captivity, and their whereabouts.

In Dapchi, Buhari met Wednesday with families of the missing girls, saying his administration has remained resolute in fighting terrorism and ensuring the students are returned safely.

"We have re-equipped our armed forces, security and intelligence services," Buhari said, adding that Nigeria's air force is maintaining aerial surveillance of the area.

Buhari said the government was investigating circumstances that led to the girls' abduction and warned that "any agency, person or group found to have been negligent or culpable" would be punished.

He said he is confident that all the missing girls will be rescued or released and returned safely to their families.

"The government, under my watch, will continue to maintain normalcy and ensure that incidents of this nature are stopped," Buhari said.

Bashir Manzo, who attended the meeting, told CNN that he and other parents are anxious but are patiently waiting for the girls' rescue. Manzo's daughter, Fatima, 16, is among the missing.
"We want our girls back, but we will give them the time they need to find them," says Manzo, who was elected head of a parents' association for the missing Dapchi schoolgirls.

The Nigerian leader last month called the abductions a "national disaster."

He has said Nigeria is working with international organizations and negotiators to ensure the girls go free unharmed.

"Our resolve (is) to negotiate for the unconditional release of the girls," Buhari said in a statement Wednesday.

"Doing so is safer ... and will not endanger the lives of our young girls who are in harm's way," he said.

The government last year freed five top Boko Haram commanders in exchange for the release of 82 of the Chibok schoolgirls.

Nigerian army spokesman John Agim told CNN last week that one of those freed commanders, Shuibu Moni, would be apprehended again after he taunted the military in a recent propaganda video from the militant Islamic group.

CNN

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25 dead in herdsmen attack in Nigeria

There appears to be no let up in the gruesome bloodletting in the Benue-Plateau region in North-central Nigeria, as yet another 25 persons were reportedly killed in the wee hours of Tuesday in an attack on Dundu village in the Kwal District of Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State.

Confirming the attack, the President of Irigwe Development Association (IDA), Hon. Sunday Abdu, said the suspected Fulani herdsmen swooped on the community Monday night and raided it for hours, leaving at least 25 persons dead in the aftermath.

While the 25 were being buried in a mass grave in the village, Abdu said the search for bodies was still ongoing since some of the residents who tried to escape the bloody raid were killed in the surrounding bushes and may not have been discovered yet.

Also confirming the killings, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr Tyopev Terna, placed the death toll from the latest attack at 25, adding that his men were drafted to the village to take charge of the situation.

But the spokesman of the military Special Task Force (STF) on Security in the state, Major Umar, had initially said eight persons were shot at, adding that seven died on the spot while the eighth victim who was rushed to the hospital eventually died, bringing the fatalities to eight.

Umar, however, called back Tuesday to say that the death toll had risen from eight to 21.

He also said that when the STF received a distress call concerning the attack, they quickly drafted soldiers to rescue the villagers, but the assailants had fled before they got there.

He added that the Dundu terrain was a very difficult one, spanning over 11 kilometres from the village.

Rev. Jerry Datim, a local cleric who conducted the mass burial, said the bodies brought for burial were 25, and lamented that the state government had abandoned the villagers to their fate.

He was critical of the state governor, Simon Lalong, saying that while the latter was making merry with President Muhammadu Buhari during the president's visit, suspected Fulani raiders were killing more people in the villages.

He called on the state government to stop giving false reports on the existing peace in the state when the reverse was the case.

Meanwhile, a mass burial for about 10 other persons who were recently slain in Miango village had been slated for Tuesday before the latest killings. Miango is a stone throw from Dundu.

This Day

Nigeria plans to negotiate with Boko Haram for the release of 110 kidnapped girls

Nigeria's presidency said on Monday it plans to negotiate for the release of 110 girls abducted from a school in the northeastern town of Dapchi last month, rather than use a military operation to free them by force.

The kidnapping is one of the largest since the jihadist group Boko Haram abducted more than 270 schoolgirls from the northeastern town of Chibok in 2014. Some of the Chibok girls have been freed after what security sources say were ransom payments; around 100 are still being held.

Nigeria is grappling with an insurgency by Boko Haram that has killed at least 20,000 people since 2009. Members of the group are suspected of the latest kidnapping, on Feb. 19, in the state of Yobe.


President Muhammadu Buhari, a 75-year-old former military ruler, discussed the use of negotiations during a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in the capital, Abuja, the presidency said.

"Nigeria prefers to have schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram from Chibok and Dapchi back alive, and that is why it has chosen negotiation, rather than a military option," Buhari's office said in an emailed statement issued by the president's spokesman.

"President Buhari added that Nigeria was working in concert with international organizations and negotiators, to ensure that the girls were released unharmed by their captors," the presidency statement said.

The issue of security has become politically charged in Nigeria less than a year before a presidential election. Buhari is touring areas hit by security problems and this week will visit the state where the schoolgirls were abducted, the statement said.

Tillerson was in Nigeria for the last stop in a week-long tour of African countries, his first trip to the continent as Secretary of State, during which he has emphasized security partnerships. He visited Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti and Chad before arriving in Nigeria's capital.

The emailed statement also said Buhari thanked the U.S. for assistance rendered in the fight against Boko Haram, noting that Nigerian forces are good but need assistance with training and equipment.

Reuters

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Video - Dozens killed in Benue state, government orders a mass burial

To Nigeria's North Central state of Benue, where dozens are feared dead in fresh clashes between farmers and Fulani herdsmen. The state government has now ordered a mass burial of victims coming Friday.

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Jay-Jay Okocha inducted as Bundesliga Legend

Former Super Eagles and Eintracht Frankfurt midfielder, Austin Jay-Jay Okocha has been named as one of the German Bundesliga legends as confirmed on the German league's official website.

The Nigerian joins Ghana legend and CAF deputy general secretary, Anthony Baffoe, in the 11-man legends network that will be flying the Bundesliga flag across the world.

"His sublime skills and tremendous tricks brought joy to fans of Eintracht Frankfurt and lit up Germany's top division for many years, and now it has been announced that footballing icon Jay-Jay Okocha is the latest star to join the Bundesliga Legends Network.

"The newest member of an elite group of former playing greats to become part of the illustrious Bundesliga Legends Network, Okocha set Germany's playing fields alight between 1992 and '96 when the Nigerian ace scored 18 goals and provided 13 assists in 90 memorable matches for the team known as The Eagles.

"Never to be forgotten among the sides he has represented, it is with warmth and delight that this footballing artist is remembered among the denizens of Eintracht while followers of the Bundesliga will forever continue to delight in the legend that is Jay-Jay Okocha. Welcome to the Bundesliga Legends Network," a Bundesliga statement reads.

The Bundesliga was bewildered by the quick feet, spellbinding step-overs, dream-like dribbles and eye-catching creativity of one of the developing stars, and characters, of the world game.

On August 31, 1993, Okocha combined all of the above traits to score one sensational goal that had beaten goalkeeper Oliver Kahn tweeting over 20 years later, "I'm still dizzy," even now.

Bundesliga giant Kahn entered folkloric status at Bayern Munich, but it was while at Karlsruhe that the highly decorated shot-stopper faced his Nigerian nemesis on a night when he, and several defenders, were left with a sense of motion sickness following Okocha's jaw-dropping exploits.

Following his spell in Germany, the attacking midfielder took his skills to Turkish team Fenerbahce, Paris Saint-German and Bolton Wanderers, among others.

Vanguard

Aliko Dangote builds $3.5 million business school in Nigeria

Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has donated a $3.5 million building to the Bayero University, Kano in northern Nigeria. The building, which is named after the Nigerian billionaire, will be the premises of the newly established Dangote Business School.

Speaking at the school’s opening ceremony which was attended by the Kano State Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, Dangote told guests that the school was part of his contributions towards driving entrepreneurship education at the highest level in Nigeria. The Dangote Business School has been accredited by the National Universities Commission (NUC), and will be first business school in Nigeria to offer the Doctor of Business Administration (PhD) programme in the country. Dangote also disclosed that talks are ongoing to develop strategic partnerships between the Dangote Business School and the Harvard Business School in the U.S.

’My interest for supporting higher education in Nigeria stems from the belief that we can and we should provide the same quality of education here in Nigeria like anywhere else in the world. Good quality education is fundamental in breeding a vibrant economy and society. My goal for this business school is for it to become a reference point when it comes to learning how to do business successfully in Nigeria and in Africa. This means that this business school should carry out studies and researches that are specific to our needs and ways of doing business which would allow more information to be shared globally on how Africans can do business,” Dangote said at the ceremony.

The Dangote Business School is made up of a 650-seating capacity auditorium, two theatres, four lecture halls, two libraries, and an incubation center.

Forbes

Video - Nigerian Government sets up commission of inquiry into mass abduction

Nigeria's government has set up a commission of inquiry into the mass abduction of the Dapchi schoolgirls. It's the biggest kidnapping since Chibok in 2014. CGTN's Kelechi Eme-kalam spoke to the strategist of the Bring Back Our Girls campaign, on how best to secure schools in the volatile area of north-eastern Nigeria.

Aid workers killed in Nigeria by suspected Boko Haram militants

Suspected Boko Haram militants killed at least 11 people including three aid workers in an attack on a military facility in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state late on Thursday, according to two security reports seen by Reuters.

The raid in the town of Rann marks the latest high-profile attack by militants in the northeast, coming less than two weeks after militants abducted 110 girls from a school in the town of Dapchi in neighboring Yobe state.

The United Nations confirmed three aid workers, all Nigerian nationals, were killed in the attack in Rann, near the Cameroon border, and said a female nurse was missing, feared abducted. It said it was also concerned other civilians may have been killed or injured.

Four soldiers and four police officers were also killed, according to the Nigerian security reports seen by Reuters.

The militants, armed with rocket-propelled grenades and truck-mounted guns, initially overpowered soldiers in a firefight at the military facility but the armed forces later regained control, according to the two reports.

The attack is a further setback for President Muhammadu Buhari, who took office in May 2015 vowing to improve security and who has repeatedly said the Boko Haram insurgency has been defeated.

The government said on Friday that it was extending to neighboring countries the search for the girls taken in Dapchi, which is some 400 km (250 miles) west of Rann.

Borno state, where Rann is situated, is the epicenter of the Boko Haram insurgency, which aims to impose a strict interpretation of Islam in northeast Nigeria. More than 20,000 people have been killed and some two million forced to leave their homes since 2009.

Two of the aid workers who died were contractors with the International Organization for Migration, working as coordinators at a camp for 55,000 displaced people in Rann, the United Nations said. The third was a doctor employed as a consultant for UNICEF.

“We call on authorities to ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice and account,” Edward Kallon, the U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, said in a statement.

Mohammed Abdiker, of the U.N. International Organization for Migration, said staff were“outraged and saddened” by the death of their colleagues.

Attacks on aid workers are rare, but not unheard of. In December, four people were killed when a World Food Program (WFP) convoy was ambushed in Borno state.

Boko Haram held a swathe of territory in northeast Nigeria around the size of Belgium in late 2014. It was pushed out of most of that land by Nigeria’s army, backed by troops from neighboring countries, in early 2015.

Although it has failed to control large areas of land since then, the group continues to carry out suicide bombings and gun raids in northeast Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad.

The camp for displaced people in Rann was bombed in an accidental Nigerian Air Force strike last year, killing up to 170 people.

Reuters

72 dead in Nigeria from Lassa fever

Nigeria is facing its worst Lassa fever outbreak on record, with 72 people confirmed to be dead from the virus and 317 infected, according to the World Health Organization.

A further 764 are suspected to be infected, and 2,845 contacts have been identified.

On average, Lassa fever is deadly in 1% of all individuals infected, with higher rates of 15% morbidity among people hospitalized for the illness. As of Sunday, the case fatality ratio was 22%, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.


Although it's endemic to the country, Lassa fever numbers have never reached this proportion before, according to the WHO.

Nigeria's Centre for Disease Control said Wednesday that it was facing an "unprecedented outbreak" that has spread to 18 states since it began in January.

The disease can cause fever and hemorrhaging of various parts of the body -- including the eyes and nose -- and can be spread through contact with an infected rat. 

Person-to-person transmission is low but has been seen in Nigerian hospital settings this year. Fourteen health workers were infected, of whom four died within eight weeks.

The WHO said Wednesday that health facilities were overstretched in the southern states of Edo, Ondo and Ebonyi, and it is working with national reference hospitals and the Alliance for International Medical Action to rapidly expand and better equip treatment centers.
It also hopes to reduce further infections to hospital staff.

"The ability to rapidly detect cases of infection in the community and refer them early for treatment improves patients' chances of survival and is critical to this response," said Dr. Wondimagegnehu Alemu, the WHO representative to Nigeria.

State health authorities are mobilizing doctors and nurses to work in treatment centers. Four UK researchers have also been deployed to Nigeria to help control the unusually large outbreak. 

"Given the large number of states affected, many people will seek treatment in health facilities that are not appropriately prepared to care for Lassa fever," Alemu said.

"The risk of infection to health care workers is likely to increase."

Lassa fever is endemic in most of West Africa, especially Nigeria, where it was discovered in 1969.
Edo, Ondo and Ebonyi states account for 85% of cases, said Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, director of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, in a statement.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, touching, eating or sniffing foods and other household items that have been contaminated by multimammate rat feces or urine can aid transmission.

Nigerians, especially in those three states, should "continue focusing on prevention by ensuring they prevent access to their foodstuff by rodents," Ihekweazu said.

There is risk of the virus spreading to other West African countries due to increased migration, said Dr. Oyewale Tomori, professor of virology at Redeemer's University in Nigeria and the former regional virologist for the WHO's Africa Region.

"There is always cause for alarm in West Africa, where the rodent host of can be found in virtually all countries of West Africa," he said.

Benin, Liberia and Sierra Leone have all reported cases of Lassa fever over the past month, according to the WHO, but risk of further international transmission is low for now.

CNN

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Video - Nigeria's army, police trade blame over militant attack on school

It appears as if the Nigerian girls' disappearance is taking its toll on Nigerian security forces. The army and Yobe police are blaming each other for the abductions. Yobe police officers claim the militants attacked Dapchi because the army had withdrawn from the area. However, the military maintains it pulled out of Dapchi because calm had returned to the area. The army claims it handed over security control to the Yobe police -- and blames local officers for the bungle. Yobe's police commissioner, however, denies any handover took place -- and says the military failed to inform him of its intention to withdraw.

Nigerian and Cameroonian military free 1,130 hostages from Boko Haram

At least 1,130 civilians were freed, and 37 suspected Boko Haram militants were killed during a joint offensive by Cameroonian and Nigerian troops in communities around the Lake Chad region on Monday, according to a Nigerian army spokesman.

In a statement on Tuesday, spokesman Colonel Onyema Nwackukwu said the offensives took place in border villages of Kusha-Kucha, Surdewala, Alkanerik, Magdewerne and Mayen, culminating in the destruction of several Boko Haram camps and seizure of weapons, including machine guns and anti-aircraft guns.

Four improvised explosive devices were also destroyed.

Nwackukwu said some 603 hostages were freed across Kusha-Kucha, Surdewala, Alkanerik, Magdewerne and Mayen villages; they were taken to the Nigerian Bama town for profiling and handing over to relief agencies.

"The troops also extracted 194 civilians held captive by the insurgents and destroyed makeshift accommodations erected by the insurgents. Additionally, the combined troops successfully cleared Miyanti and Wudila villages, where they rescued three men, 121 women and 209 children," the army spokesman added.

On Tuesday, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary-General Dr Yousef Al-Othaimeen condemned the abduction of some 110 schoolgirls from Nigeria’s northeastern Dapchi town Monday.

Al Jazeera

Names of 110 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram in Nigeria released

The Nigerian government has released the names of the 110 missing girls, some as young as 11 years old, who have not been seen since a raid on their school in Dapchi last week.

Fighter jets, helicopters and surveillance planes have all been deployed in the search for the girls, who vanished after suspected Boko Haram militants attacked the Government Girls Science Technical College.

According to a list of names released by the authorities Tuesday, the missing are aged between 11 and 19. The names have been verified by a panel of school administrators and government officials, according to a statement by Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Nigeria's Minister of Information and Culture.

As of Monday evening, the Nigerian Air Force had flown a total of 200 hours while searching for the girls. Nigeria's Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Sadique Abubakar, has been relocated to Yobe State, where Dapchi is located, to personally supervise the search, the government statement said.


The school is only 275 kilometers (170 miles) from Chibok, where Boko Haram militants kidnapped nearly 300 girls from a school in 2014.

After global outrage and prolonged negotiation, many of the Chibok girls were later freed but more than 100 are still missing, thought to be held in a number of unknown locations.

The father of one of the girls who was taken from Dapchi, Bashir Manzo, told CNN he isn't happy with the way the government has handled the situation.

"My daughter Aisha Kachalla is missing and we can't get any information from school because soldiers are all over there," said Manzo, who is also the newly elected head of the parent's association.

"No security came to Dapchi the day the men came, now over a hundred soldiers have taken over the village."

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said the raid was a "national disaster" and promised the families of the missing girls their children would be returned.

"We are sorry that it happened; we share your pain. Let me assure that our gallant armed forces will locate and safely return all the missing girls," Buhari said in a Twitter statement.

CNN

Video - Nigerian authorities intensify search for missing girls

Nigeria is sending extra troops and planes to the North-eastern state of Yobe as the search for missing schoolgirls intensifies. During the weekend, the government announced that 110 girls are presumed to have been abducted. That's according to information received from parents.

Father's plea to find daughter kidnapped by Boko Haram

The father of a 14-year-old girl who is among 110 believed to have been abducted by Boko Haram has pleaded with the Nigerian government to act quickly.

"We don't want these girls to stay long with those militants. Anything can happen to them," Kachalla Bukar told the BBC.

Jihadists stormed the school in the town of Dapchi in the north-eastern Yobe state on 19 February.

The attack has revived memories of the Chibok schoolgirl abduction in 2014.

President Muhammadu Buhari said it was a "national disaster" and apologised to the girls' families.

Mr Bukar says his wife cannot stop crying and he cannot sleep since their "brilliant" daughter Aisha disappeared.

"We are begging the government to control the situation quickly."

Nigeria has deployed extra troops and planes to search for the schoolgirls.

"We want to assure Nigerians that no stone will be left unturned in our determination to rescue these girls", Nigeria's Information Minister Lai Mohammed told the BBC.

Anger has been growing among the girls' parents amid reports that soldiers had been withdrawn from key checkpoints in Dapchi last month.

Dapchi, which is about 275km (170 miles) north-west of Chibok, came under attack last Monday, causing students and teachers from the Government Girls Science and Technical College to flee into the surrounding bush.

Residents say that Nigeria's security forces, backed by military jets, later repelled the attack.

Authorities initially denied the students had been kidnapped, saying they were hiding from their attackers.

But they later admitted that 110 girls were missing after the attack.

Boko Haram militants have been fighting a long insurgency in the country's north in their quest for an Islamic state in the region.

Nearly four years ago they abducted 276 girls from a school in Chibok, leading to a worldwide #BringBackOurGirls campaign. The location of more than 100 of those girls is still unknown.

The conflict is estimated to have killed tens of thousands of people, and led to the abduction of thousands.

BBC

Video - Has Boko Haram been defeated in Nigeria

The kidnapping of dozens more schoolgirls in Nigeria suggests Boko Haram hasn't been defeated, despite the declaration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Video - The Battle Against Boko Haram

In 2009, Boko Haram began what would become one of the deadliest insurgencies in Nigeria. But according to authorities the militants have now been defeated.

Government confirms 110 girls still missing after Boko Haram attack another school in Nigeria

Nigeria's government acknowledged Sunday that 110 girls remain missing nearly a week after Boko Haram militants attacked their town. Frustrated family members already had compiled a list of missing girls after saying officials were being slow to respond.

The fate of the girls is not known, but witnesses said the Islamic extremists specifically asked where the girls' school was located. Some eyewitnesses reporting seeing young women taken away at gunpoint.

Information Minister Lai Mohammed made the announcement Sunday after meetings were held with family members and others, some of whom have criticized the government for taking days to make such an announcement.

Air Force spokesperson Olatokunbo Adesanya said in a statement Sunday that "the renewed efforts at locating the girls are being conducted in close liaison with other surface security forces."

Many fear the girls were abducted as brides for Boko Haram extremists. The group kidnapped 276 girls from a boarding school in Chibok in 2014 and forced them to marry their captors. About 100 of the Chibok girls have never returned to their families in nearly four years.

'A national disaster'

The militants arrived last Monday evening in the town of Dapchi in Nigeria's Yobe state, sending many fleeing into the surrounding bush amid the hail of gunfire. While Nigeria's president has called the girls' disappearances "a national disaster," local officials at first falsely indicated that some of those abducted were rescued, while others were hiding and would return in the coming days.

Bashir Manzo, whose daughter Fatima is among the missing, said the chances the children are merely hiding in the bush are slim.

"All those that fled into the bush had been brought back to the school on Tuesday, and a roll call was taken after which they had all gone home to meet their parents," he said.

Nigeria's president said earlier that no effort will be spared to locate them.

"The entire country stands as one with the girls' families, the government and the people of Yobe state," President Muhammadu Buhari said earlier in the week.

"This is a national disaster. We are sorry that this could have happened and share your pain. We pray that our gallant armed forces will locate and safely return your missing family members."

CBC

Video - Government retracts statement that Nigerian schoolgirls were rescued

There's concern in north east Nigeria after the government retracted a statement claiming dozens of abducted schoolgirls had been rescued.

Outbreak of lassa fever kills 73 in Nigeria

Nigeria is grappling with an outbreak of Lassa fever, which has caused 73 deaths this year as the number of new confirmed cases surged in the past week, according to the country’s Center for Disease Control.

The acute viral hemorrhagic illness is endemic in several West African countries including Nigeria, according to the World Health Organization. The UN agency said earlier this month it was scaling up its response to the outbreak, which has spread to 17 of Nigeria’s 36 states.

The current outbreak “is more than what we have seen before, it is overwhelming,” Elsie Ilori, incident manager at the NCDC’s Lassa Fever Emergency Operations Centre, said by phone Thursday.

A total of 913 suspected cases have been registered since the start of the year, with Nigeria’s southern Ondo and Edo states most affected, according NCDC data. The fatality rate in confirmed and probable cases is 21 percent, it showed.

The Lassa virus is transmitted to humans via contact with food or household items contaminated with rodent urine or faeces, according to the WHO.

Bloomberg

Nigeria Super Eagles coach to stick with core squad for 2018 World Cup

Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr has ruled out bringing in new players to bolster his squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

The West Africans have been hit by a goalkeeping crisis; first choice Carl Ikeme was diagnosed with leukaemia, both Daniel Akpeyi and his replacement Ikechukwu Ezenwa have failed to impress while Francis Uzoho is inexperienced.

Rohr is not tempted to call up another goalkeeper, despite growing calls from a section of fans for him to recall the country's most capped player Vincent Enyeama from retirement.

"We have built a good environment for the team and I believe all the players gave everything to secure the ticket to Russia," Rohr told BBC Sport.

"It looks very impossible to get Carl Ikeme to play in Russia, but Ikechukwu Ezenwa showed in big matches so far that he can be in goal.

"The young boy Uzoho had a great game against Argentina so I've sent the goalkeeper trainer to continue to provide support for this boy in Spain.

"We are not limited as we also have other goalkeepers like Akpeyi, Ajiboye and Alampasu in the team, so I believe we are fine."

At the last tournament, Nigeria drafted in experienced Peter Odemwingie and Shola Ameobi, with the former scoring the only goal against debutants Bosnia-Herzegovina to give Nigeria their solitary victory in Brazil.

Many have cited a lack of experience in the current squad, but Rohr is confident he has the personnel to get the job done and will stick with his current group in Russia.

"You have to respect what the former players have done in the past but be careful that you don't try to bring them back because people think so," said Rohr.

"We have big experience in captain [John] Mikel Obi, Victor Moses and our left back Elderson who is now playing in Belgium.

"If we feel the need to strengthen this squad we know what to do because for nearly two years now we've had a good atmosphere so far. Another good news is that the young striker in Wolfsburg [Victor] Osimhen is also playing now.

"I will make the [provisional] squad based on this group and also give one of the CHAN boys a chance as well.

"We can't just keep bringing in player after player when you already have those who have proven that they can do the job," Rohr added.

The Super Eagles will be making a sixth appearance at the World Cup tournament in Russia wehere they will play Argentina, Iceland and Croatia in Group D.

The three-time African champions reached the round of 16 in 1994, 1998 and 2014 but exit the 2002 and 2010 tournaments in the group stages.

BBC

Nigerian schoolgirls still not accounted for after Boko Haram attack

Dozens of schoolgirls are still unaccounted for days after suspected Boko Haram fighters attacked their school in northeast Nigeria.

The Yobe state government issued a statement on Thursday that retracted an earlier one that some of the missing girls had been rescued by the military.

"We have now established that the information we relied on to make the statement was not credible. The Yobe state government apologises for that," said Abdullahi Bego, spokesman for Yobe Governor Ibrahim Gaidam.

Late on Wednesday, Bego had said some girls had been "rescued by gallant officers and men of the Nigerian army from the terorrists who abducted them".

Bego did not give a specific number of those saved.

Police said on Wednesday that 111 girls from the state-run boarding school in Dapchi, in Yobe state, were unaccounted for following an attack by the armed group on Monday night.

But exact figures have been difficult to confirm.

On Thursday, parents said 101 children were still missing, The Associated Press reported, while unidentified sources told Reuters 91 were gone.

The students were reported to have fled the attack with their teachers at the sound of gunfire.

More than 20,000 people have been killed and two million others forced to flee their homes in northeastern Nigeria since Boko Haram launched a campaign in 2009 aimed at forming a breakaway state.

Over the years, the armed group has kidnapped thousands of adults and children.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari recently said the era of Boko Haram violence "is gradually drawing to end".

However, the group continues to launch attacks in the country's northeast, and its leader remains at large.

Al Jazeera

Video - Pupils, teachers escape militant attack on school in Nigeria's Yobe State

Boko Haram insurgents have made unsuccessful attempt to kidnap school girls at a rural secondary school in Yobe state. The group that gained international notoriety for kidnapping hundreds of school girls from Chibok raided the school on Monday evening.

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Nigeria has started preparing for next year's elections. The country is due to go to the polls in February 2019. And the Independent National Electoral Commission has already started registering voters.

Some missing girls rescued after Boko Haram attack on school

Some of the schoolgirls missing after a militant attack on a boarding school in northern Nigeria have been rescued by the military, officials say.

About 100 children were believed to be missing after pupils and teachers fled into bush outside the town of Dapchi during the attack.

Parents told the BBC they had seen girls being taken away in trucks.

The attack comes four years after Boko Haram kidnapped more than 270 girls from a school in the town of Chibok.

In a statement, the Yobe state government said an unspecified number of girls had been rescued from the "terrorists who abducted them" and were now with the army.

Reuters news agency quoted parents and a government official as saying that 76 girls had been rescued and at least 13 were still missing

Two girls had been found dead, Reuters said, without specifying how they had died.

Yobe state officials had previously said there was no information to suggest any of the girls had been kidnapped.

Dapchi is about 275km (170 miles) north-west of Chibok.

The jihadists entered the town firing guns and letting off explosives, causing students and teachers to flee into the surrounding bush.

Residents say that Nigeria's security forces - backed by military jets - later repelled the attack.

Locals living near the school told the BBC that many of the girls who had fled had been found after hiding in surrounding villages - some up to 30km away.

Yobe's police minister said that 815 of the school's 926 students had later returned to the school.

The minister was speaking before news that more girls had been rescued by the military.

What has happened to the Chibok girls?

Last September, a group of more than 100 of the Chibok girls were reunited with their families at a party in Abuja.

Most of the group were released in May as part of a controversial prisoner swap deal with the Nigerian government that saw five Boko Haram commanders released.

But more than 100 schoolgirls are still being held by Boko Haram, and their whereabouts are unknown.

Boko Haram militants have been fighting a long insurgency in their quest for an Islamic state in northern Nigeria. The conflict is estimated to have killed tens of thousands of people.

The Chibok girls represent a fraction of the women captured by the militant group, which has kidnapped thousands during its eight-year insurgency in northern Nigeria.

BBC

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205 Boko Haram suspects convicted in Nigeria

A Nigerian high court convicted 205 Boko Haram suspects for their involvement with the insurgent group, according to a Justice Ministry statement on Monday.

The suspects were sentenced to jail terms ranging from three to 60 years, the ministry said.
"Most of them were convicted for professing to belong to the terrorist group, concealing information about the group which they knew or believe to be of material assistance that could lead to the arrest, prosecution or conviction of Boko Haram members," the justice ministry statement said.

Since last week, hundreds of suspected Boko Haram members have appeared before a court at the Kainji military base in Niger, a central Nigerian state.

It also freed 526 suspects, including minors, for lack of evidence and ordered they be sent to their state governments for "proper rehabilitation." 

Seventy-three cases were adjourned for another hearing.

Among those released was a young girl from Nigeria's Borno State with a 3-month-old baby. She was arrested in 2014 while escaping Sambisa forest, a Boko Haram enclave.

The court on Friday imposed a second 15-year sentence on Haruna Yahaya, who was involved in the kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls from Chibok in 2014.

CNN

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