This hint was given by President Goodluck Jonathan who said on Monday in Abuja that the analysis of the video posted in social media by the sect did not indicate conclusively that all of them had been killed.
Speaking at a joint press conference with the visiting Lebanese President, Michel Sleiman, at the State House, President Jonathan maintained that he suspectedsome of the captives may still be alive.
Among the seven foreign construction workers abducted from their camps by the radical sect were four Lebanese.
Ansaru had posted a video clip on the social media purportedly to show the bodies of the kidnapped victims, arguing that they had been executed because of moves by both Nigeria and British security forces to rescue them.
Jonathan explained that efforts to rescue them were hampered by a combination of the difficult terrain of the location they were held and the fear that their abductors may kill them.
According to him, “we really suspect that some (of the hostages) probably have died, either from health or other related causes or direct killing, but we still believe that not all the seven (were killed) because even the release in the social media did not really show all the seven, so we are still working on it.”
The president remarked that Nigeria was working with other countries whose nationals were also kidnapped on a way out of the crisis, stressing that the safety of the victims remained the paramount consideration of government.
He said: “From the date of the kidnap, we have been working with our own friendly nations, including the United Kingdom and others to see that this people were rescued.
“Because of the ugly experience we had when a similar situation happened and about the time we were to secure the release of the people, they were shot, security services were being careful so that if the kidnappers noticed invasion, they would not just turn round and kill the people.
“The place where they were suspected to be holding them is quite a difficult area. It is a rocky terrain that you cannot easily access.
“Over the period, they (Ansaru) released some information through the social media, but analysis of that information does not really give us a conclusive position.
“I briefed my colleague, President Sleiman, that we are still working on it and we will get to the root and if they are killed, I insist that we must get their corpse.”
Jonathan also regretted the destructive activities of Boko Haram and other terrorist groups in the country, noting that this was “a sad moment in our history. The issue of the excesses of Boko Haram and related organisations is quite sad. It is a very ugly phase that we are passing through.”
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