I know where the Chibok girls are – Senator Ahmed Zanna.

A lawmaker representing Borno North at the National Assembly, Senator Ahmed Zanna has confirmed he knows the whereabouts of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls. Zana, who claimed that the government refused to listen to him, told CNN that he won’t reveal the location of the girls and the dreaded Islamist group.

The Senator made this declaration when he was being interviewed via a telephone call by Isha Sesay of CNN. Asked where he thinks the insurgents might be keeping the girls, the Senator replied, “I won’t tell where they are being kept again because I have told the Federal Government where they are likely being kept before the video was released.

Now that I saw the video, the vegetation in the clip confirmed what I have told them earlier,” “If they want to know where they are being kept, then the government should remember what I told them before. What I can tell you is that the girls are no longer here in Chibok.” He affirmed that it would be difficult for Nigeria to get back all the girls abducted by the insurgents, saying that the girls have not only been split by their abductors but ferried through Lake Chad to neighbouring countries among which he said were Chad, Niger and Cameroon.

He said, “I have been in constant touch with the security agencies, telling them the developments, the movement of the girls from one place to the other and then the splitting of the girls and eventually the marriage of these girls by the insurgents. What bothers me most is that whenever I informed them where these girls were, after two to three days, they will be moved from that place to another and still, I will go back and inform them that see, this is what is happening.

“I lost hope two days ago when I found out that some of them were moved to Chad and Cameroon. Actually, some of them were moved through the Mandara Mountain that is in Gwoza and some of them are just a stone throw from their barracks, even now as I am talking to you, some of them are in Kolofata, which is in Cameroon but about 15 kilometres or even less to the borders."

US Marines In Abuja Over Nigeria Insecurity

US marines are in Nigeria to help the country’s security services tackle increasing threats, NUJENews understands. Nigeria is playing host to the 7th World Economic Forum Africa in Abuja next week amid heightened security challenges.

The summit is expected to be attended by over 10 heads of state and government as well as over 900 delegates from 70 countries. Presidents of Algeria, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Mali Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania and Togo have confirmed attendance. Former British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, and former President of Brazil, Lula da Silva, are expected to attend.Also, over 50 chief executives of big global corporations have confirmed attendance. However, because of recent blasts in Nyanya – on the outskirts of Abuja – there have been heightened fears of a possible terror attack during the summit.

Nigerian government has been assuring the world that it would provide maximum security, announcing a complete shut-down of schools and government offices during the summit. TheCable reported on Tuesday that a 6,000-strong personnel, made up of soldiers and other security agents, will be deployed in Abuja – the heaviest security for a summit in Nigeria. The US marines have already arrived the country, according to sources in the know of their movement.“They are not going to be directly involved in the World Economic Forum event,” a senior American security source told NUJENews.

“Their brief is to train the Nigerian security services. It should be expected that Nigerian agents will handle the security of the summit.”

The marines are highly specialised soldiers who have been deployed in areas affected by serious conflict and terrorism, such as Afghanistan and Iraq. They are described in Wikipedia as “an amphibious, expeditionary, air-ground combined arms task force, capable of forcible entry from the air, land, and sea. It is capable of asymmetric warfare with conventional, irregular, and hybrid forces.While the Marine Corps does not employ any unique combat arms, as a force it can rapidly deploy a combined-arms task force to almost anywhere in the world within days.”

Meanwhile, NUJENews has learnt that some of the extra security measures for the summit include:Immediate deployment of the high security operation as against previous plans to deploy them from TuesdayExpansion of secure zone perimeters at key locations (initially limited to 250 metres radius)Additional security at venues, Abuja airport and key roads, as well as on dedicated shuttle services to and from the airport and between venues.

Investigation: How Kidnapped Nigerian Schoolgirls Forced To Marry Extremists.

Kidnapped Nigerian Schoolgirls Forced To Marry Extremists: Reports

Scores of girls and young women kidnapped from a school in Nigeria are being forced to marry their Islamic extremist abductors, a civic organization reported Wednesday.

At the same time, the Boko Haram terrorist network is negotiating over the students' fate and is demanding an unspecified ransom for their release, a Borno state community leader told The Associated Press.

He said the Wednesday night message from the abductors also claimed that two of the girls have died from snake bites.

The message was sent to a member of a presidential committee mandated last year to mediate a ceasefire with the Islamic extremists, said the civic leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak about the talks.

The news of negotiations comes as parents say the girls are being sold into marriage to Boko Haram militants. The students are being paid 2,000 naira ($12) to marry the fighters, Halite Aliyu of the Borno-Yobe People's Forum told The Associated Press. She said the parents' information about mass weddings is coming from villagers in the Sambisa Forest, on Nigeria's border with Cameroon, where Boko Haram is known to have hideouts. Click to watch this exclusive NUJ EU Video Reports

"The latest reports are that they have been taken across the borders, some to Cameroon and Chad," Aliyu said. It was not possible to verify the reports about more than 200 missing girls kidnapped in the northeast by the Boko Haram terrorist network two weeks ago.

"Some of them have been married off to insurgents. A medieval kind of slavery. You go and capture women and then sell them off," community elder Pogu Bitrus of Chibok, the town where the girls were abducted, told the BBC Hausa Service.

Outrage over the failure to rescue the girls is growing and hundreds of women braved heavy rain to march Wednesday to Nigeria's National Assembly to protest lack of action over the students. Hundreds more also marched in Kano, Nigeria's second city in the north.

"The leaders of both houses said they will do all in their power but we are saying two weeks already have past, we want action now," said activist Mercy Asu Abang.

"We want our girls to come home alive — not in body bags," she said.

Nigerians have harnessed social media to protest, trending under the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls.

There also has been no news of 25 girls kidnapped from Konduga town in Borno state earlier this month.

A federal senator from the region said the military is aware of the movements of the kidnappers and the girls because he has been feeding them details that he has gathered on a near-daily basis.

"What bothered me the most is that whenever I informed the military where these girls were, after two to three days they were moved from that place to another. Still, I would go back and inform them on new developments," Sen. Ahmad Zanna is quoted as saying at the Nigerian online news site Persecond News.

Zanna said some of the girls are in Kolofata in Cameroon, about 15 kilometers (nine miles) from the border with Nigeria. He said one of the insurgents had called a friend in Borno state to say that he had just got married and was settling in Kolofata. Zanna also said three or four days ago Nigerian herdsmen reported seeing the girls taken in boats onto an island in Lake Chad.

Another senator from the region said the government needs to get international help to rescue the girls. The government must do "whatever it takes, even seeking external support to make sure these girls are released," Sen. Ali Ndume said. "The longer it takes the dimmer the chances of finding them, the longer it takes the more traumatized the family and the abducted girls are."

About 50 of the kidnapped girls managed to escape from their captors in the first days after their abduction, but some 220 remain missing, according to the principal of the Chibok Girls Secondary School, Asabe Kwambura. They are between 16 and 18 years old and had been recalled to the school to write a physics exam.

The failure to rescue the girls is a massive embarrassment to Nigeria's government and the military, already confronted by mounting criticism over its apparent inability to curb the 5-year-old Islamic uprising despite having draconian powers through an 11-month state of emergency in three northeastern states covering one-sixth of the country.

The military trumpets a success in its "onslaught on terrorists" but then the extremists step up the tempo and deadliness of their attacks. More than 1,500 people have been killed in the insurgency so far this year, compared to an estimated 3,600 between 2010 and 2013.

President Goodluck Jonathan, who is from the predominantly Christian south of Nigeria, has been accused of insensitivity to the plight of people in the north, who are mainly Muslims.

People from Nigeria's northeast feel that they are being punished because they did not vote for Jonathan's People's Democratic Party — the entire region is held by opposition politicians, said Aliyu, of the Borno-Yobe People's Forum. "The northeast zone is in flames and nothing is being done because we didn't vote PDP," she said. "Women are raped daily, our children are being carted away like animals and sold like chickens, they (extremists) burn schools, they burn mosques, they raze entire villages."

She said it would take decades to rebuild from the destruction that has forced an estimated 750,000 people from their homes, some into neighboring countries, fleeing the terror of the zealots as well as abuses by the soldiers.

The military's lack of progress in rescuing the girls indicates that large parts of northeastern Nigeria remain beyond the control of the government. Until the kidnappings, the air force had been mounting near-daily bombing raids since mid-January on the Sambisa Forest and mountain caves bordering Chad.

Aliyu said that in northeastern Nigeria "life has become nasty, short and brutish. We are living in a state of anarchy."

 by  MICHELLE FAUL   |AP    Click to watch this exclusive NUJ EU Video Reports

NIGERIA In The World Cup: The Immediate Hurdles For Keshi And His Men Come In The First Group Stage!

    ATTENTION now turns to the next friendly against Scotland on the 28th of May. It is an encounter where we shall be seeing 4-4-1-1 formation experimented with once again by Keshi, and perhaps adopted as the team gets ready for the Mundial in Brazil.

The immediate hurdles for Keshi and his men come in the first group stage.

Two teams that possess tremendous quality in attack but not too strong defensive line -Bosnia and Argentina –are the two strong teams in the group. Bearing this in mind, it is believed the newly-tested formation of Keshi against Mexico will be the best approach to start the adventure in Brazil. 

Against Mexico in the friendly, Keshi surprised everyone for opting for a 4-4-1-1 with a deep central midfield and pace on the flanks. This 4-4-1-1 shows the tactical flexibility of Keshi, and allows for a deep-lying central midfielder and a swift winger on the flanks. Ramon Azeez, John Ogu, Sunday Mba, Lukman Haruna or even Joel Obi (if fit) can be drafted in the deep role, offering support and strength in depth.

  

Ahmed Musa and Victor Moses are suspects to be on the flanks, taking into consideration their speed which can pose a huge threat to Bosnia and Argentina’s defence. This will create better opportunities with a compact midfield and good counter attack. 

The deeper position will allow the central players to sit in front of the back four in a compact position to deny the opposition forward and midfield space. This will afford the wingers leeway to punish teams on the break.

Victor Moses | The Lethal Weapon

The symphonic partnership of Godfrey Oboabona and Kenneth Omeruo in the heart of defence can help the team; their adaptation and understanding worked quite well during AFCON. Meanwhile, the new boy on the block, Leon Balogun, and the strong Azubike Egwuekwe can be reliable backups. 

Vincent Enyeama, the 31-year-old with 20 clean sheets for Lille this season, will obviously retain the number one berth with Austin Ejide and Chigozie Agbim as the second and third choices respectively.

Goalkeeping may not be an issue to bother about for now. 

Considering the striking force, which used to be a huge issue, Keshi may have just found his way to making lemonade with the available lemons.

Now, when you think about the striking force of the team, the regulars will first come to mind: Emmamuel Emenike, Brown Ideye, Shola Ameobi, Nnamdi Oduamadi, Obinna Nsofor, Shola Ameobi, Bright Dike and the new faces Imoh Ezekiel and Michel Uchebo.

While these strong, agile, and skilful players are even still fighting to be in the frontline, we may ask a big question; what are the chances of Peter Odemwiegie and Ike Uche? Considering only current playing form and experience, there could well be slots for both players in Keshi’s team; it may however be a tough decision for the Big Boss.

In-form Odemwingie | A case for inclusion

Keshi has used his man-management skills to build a team of disciplined, resilient and hard-to-beat men who always hunger for the result with an all-positive disposition.

In this light, I wish to summarise my submissions/suggestions as such; 

• Keshi should adopt the 4-4-1-1 formation in order to split the defence of the teams in our group. 

• Players in good form in their respective clubs should be invited (should be the wish of every coach anyway).  

• Lastly, the NFF should leave Keshi to do his job; every possible interference should be absolutely avoided. 

Edited by Lashley Oladigboolu
 Credit: Goal.Com Nigeria