Presidency denies reported $50million ransom demand for abducted Chibok girls

Minister of information, Lai Mohammed has
denied reports that Boko Haram is demanding
$50m from the government as ransom before
releasing the over 200 abducted Chibok
schoolgirls. Mohammed made the denial in an
interview with the Voice of America.
"It appears we have several versions of
this report. The one that we heard was
from a source that (Boko Haram) wants
to release 10 of these girls for 1 million
euros. But the most important thing is
that we’ve gone through this route before,
and until and when we establish the
credibility of this source and the truth
behind it, the government will not be in a
hurry to make a statement. However,
government is using its own channels to
authenticate the credibility of this
source," he said.
The Information minister described as 'unfair'
the accusations that the Buhari administration is
not doing enough to secure the release of the
abducted girls.
"No day passes without the issue of the
kidnapped girls not being at the front burner. But
these are highly security and intelligence issues,
which cannot always be discussed openly. But I
can assure you that for this government, the
return of these girls is what is going to bring the
final closure on the Boko Haram terrorism and
we are working very hard, daily on it."
"Those who say that are being very unfair to
us,” Mohammed said. "We inherited a very bad
situation where the trail had gone cold, despite
that every day we send out reports, we receive
[information] some of them are phony some of
them are just there to excoriate government. But
the truth of the matter is that it’s not a matter
that the government is taking lightly. Those who
want a daily report on what we are doing, of
course in security that does not happen. But we
have channels of information in which we make
available on a need to know basis," he said.