This Dawn — An American journalist, formerly of a top newspaper based in Washington, the United States, Ms. Liza Mundy, has finally admitted that America’s secret agency, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), failed to rescue a single Chibok girl.
Ms. Mundy made the admission after a Nigerian U.S.-based international human rights lawyer, Barrister Emmanuel Ogebe, confronted her.
Mundy had, in her book “The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA”, made some spurious claims about an alleged rescue operation of some of the Chibok Girls by the U.S. spy agency.
According to the book by the journalist and author, “Molly Chambers, a California native who was among the new generation of women who joined the CIA after September 11, 2001, said she was sent to Maiduguri around 2017 to track down late Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau when multinational efforts intensified towards rescuing the schoolgirls abducted from Chibok in 2014″.
Mundy wrote further: “Her third posting was Nigeria, where in April 2014, 276 female students had been kidnapped from a Christian boarding school in Chibok by the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram…
“Working with the British and French, they hoped to get all the girls in one fell swoop, but some had been married off to fighters and were reluctant or unable to leave their babies, at least not right away.
“But they did get thirty at one time.”
However, local media credited a Borno lawyer and a journalist, Zanna and Salkida, respectively for the feat.
Reports said they played pivotal roles in facilitating the release of 21 in 2016 and 82 girls in 2017, but not 30 at any point whatsoever.
Wall Street Journal picks holes
After Mundy’s claim, meanwhile, another U.S. major news outlet, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), made a controversial claim.
In its special report for the 10th anniversary of the Chibok schoolgirl kidnappings, the Journal denied claims that CIA rescued 30 of the Chibok girls from Boko Haram.
In a story entitled “One Sister Fled Boko Haram. The Other Was Trapped. Their Lives Will Never Be the Same”, published on April 20, 2024, WSJ dissociated CIA from the rescue of the 30 abducted Nigerian schoolgirls.
The report stated: “It was an abduction so inconceivable in its scale that it shocked Nigeria.
“[It] then, through Twitter, inspired a worldwide hashtag campaign—#BringBackOurGirls—tweeted by celebrities from Oprah Winfrey to the Pope.
“America sent drones and intelligence officers to look for the girls, although they failed to rescue a single student.”
The disclosure directly discredits the claims by the CIA, which pissed Barrister Ogebe off.
The U.S.-based international human rights lawyer punched holes in the Mundy’s CIA rescue operation story.
He wrote: “We have a logical absurdity where American journalists with a top newspaper in the country based in New York published a story that American intelligence “failed to rescue a single Chibok girl” while an American journalist formerly of the top paper based in Washington like them also published a book making money claiming just the opposite – that US intelligence rescued 30 Chibok schoolgirls!”
Mundy’s admission
In response to Ogebe’s direct inquiry to the journalist, addressing his concerns with her story, the author maintained her original position.
However, after another prodding, Mundy finally admitted that her story was faulty.
She stated via email: “Dear Mr. Ogebe, Thank you so much for your email.
“I certainly did not mean to give the impression that all of the schoolgirls were rescued.
“I am well aware that not all of them have come home. I don’t know the reason why.
“It is such a tragic and heartbreaking situation, and my heart goes out to the families.
“All my best regards, Liza.”
“Internal inconsistencies within the publication”
Following Mundy’s admission, Ogebe explained that he was prompted to write to the author following the final Israel hostages were released from Gaza by Hamas after two years in captivity in sharp contrast to the still missing Chibok girls almost a dozen years gone, in a post on social media.
He wrote: “Liza sent a nice reply back but didn’t really address my questions about her suspect rescue story.
“I had in three prior reports and analysis demonstrated how dubious and doubtful these claims are from facts available to the public and from internal inconsistencies within the publication.
“I believe this is important to resolve because of the traumatized families who are being misled to believe that the CIA asked their daughters if they wanted to come back and they refused.
“This creates the unfortunate impression that they prefer a life with terrorists than their families.
“The fact that three more girls came out this year is proof positive that they do want to come home and a testament to the girls who did what the CIA didn’t do – free them!
“Liza Mundy must get to the bottom of this false CIA Chibok rescue,” he said.
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