by Azeez Adeniyi

The administration of President Goodluck Jonathan rejected an offer by the British armed forces to rescue 276 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by terrorist group Boko Haram, The Guardian has reported.

According to the news medium, the British Air Force through its Operation Turus, was able to locate the girls in the first few weeks of its air reconnaissance over northern Nigeria.

“The girls were located in the first few weeks of the RAF mission,” a source involved in Operation Turus said.

“We offered to rescue them, but the Nigerian government declined.”

The source added that the girls were dispersed into smaller groups over the following months.

The Guardian also reports that notes from meetings between Nigeria and the UK obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, also showed that Nigeria rebuffed offers to rescue the kidnapped girls.

It said Nigeria viewed any action to be taken against kidnapping as a “national issue”.

A summary of a meeting between the National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki and James Duddridge MP, former under-secretary of state at the Foreign Office in September 2014, shows Operation Turus had advanced to the point where rescue options were being discussed.

“[President] Jonathan was still focused on ‘platforms’. General Chiswell said again we could offer advice on what equipment might make sense and how weapon systems might be best deployed,” the October 2014 document stated.

Recall that Boko Haram had raided the government secondary school in Chibok and abducted 276 girls.

Some of them have however been rescued by the Nigerian Army while 195 of the girls are still missing.