•President Buhari
President
Muhammadu Buhari was yesterday under pressure to rescue the 219 girls
kidnapped two years ago from their school in Chibok, Borno State.
The pressure is coming after the release of a new video showing that the girls are alive.
In the video, which was released on Wednesday by the Cable News Network (CNN), 15 of the girls are shown.
In Abuja, members of the Bring Back Our
Girls campaign attempted to march on the Presidential Villa. They were
stopped by the police.
There was a protest in Lagos by women
wearing red- the symbol of the campaign. They were at Alausa, the seat
of the state government, demanding that the Federal Government should
put in more efforts in rescuing the girls.
But Buhari told the girls’ parents that he felt their pains and reiterated his promise to bring the girls back home.
At the National Assembly, the Senate
resolved to invite security chiefs to shed light on the battle to free
the girls. The House of Representatives called on Buhari to rescue the
girls.
In the United States, the Congress said it was ready to help.
A group of South Africans in Johannesburg also yesterday carried placards calling for the rescue of the girls.
In Abuja, the campaigners said the proof
of life video, released to the public by the CNN on Wednesday is a
vindication of their position that the girls are still alive.
The group said the released video is a
glimmer of hope for their members and the Chibok community after many
people advised them to give up and believe the girls dead.
Yesterday’s march also ended the day seven of the global week of action for the Chibok girls.
The group’s position is contained in a
statement read by leader of the #BBOG strategic team, Aisha Yesufu and
signed by former Minister of Education and leader #BBOG Dr. Oby
Ezekwesilli.
“Our Federal Government, the military
and the broader security team are less persuasive on the matter of our
219 Chibok girls, with the strong promise made by Mr President to rescue
them as a matter of priority, we hoped that there would by now be a
positive outcome on the search and rescue operation mounted for them.
“Our position to the proof of life video
is that we see it as a glimmer of light. When we persisted in demanding
for our Chibok girls, many people say to us, it is already too late,
why are you persisting in demanding for these girls? The girls may
already be dead and we say to them, we have no counter-factual evidence
to the fact that our Chibok girls are still alive. To that extent,
therefore, seeing such a video is an important cautious renewal of hope
for us.
“We therefore have advised our Federal
Government to consider that video an important tool, alongside several
other leads that are being offered to use in scrutinising all
information that would lead us to the whereabout of our Chibok girls and
thereafter to make informed decisions as to the lowest cost, lowest
risk option for rescuing our girls.
“We believe that the proof of life video
would be a good place to start in scrutinising every possible lead that
is provided our government on the whereabouts of our citizens. It
should, as it escalates the rescue operation use the government-civil
society roundtable to constantly provide progress reports of the
operation and other related activities.
“Our movement will not stop reminding
our President and the FG of their constitutional mandate and his
personal pledge to rescue our Chibok girls. For 716 days we have
advocated relentlessly and shall continue until our girls are rescued.
“The symbolism of our march is to
reiterate that the rescue of our Chibok girls, other victims of
terrorism, resolving the humanitarian crises in the Northeast, tackling
of the grossly worrying problems of herders attacks on citizens as
symbolised in Agatu; disclosing all military misdemeanours against
civilians in their communities across the country, tackling the problem
of endangered education of millions of children in Internally Displaced
Persons’ camps nationwide, are the primary duties of government led by
the federal authorities in Nigeria.”
The leadership of the Kibaku Area
Development Association (KADA) called on the government to rebuild the
burnt Chibok school, which is yet to be constructed despite the widely
publicised reconstruction foundation laying ceremony by the former
President Goodluck Jonathan administration.
KADA said as peace gradually returns to
the Northeast, government and development partners under the Safe School
Initiative should fast-track the completion of the Chibok burnt school
for education of the children to begin.
,Abuja branch Chairman Tsambido Hosea
and National Secretary Battah Ndirpaya said: “After the abduction,
Chibok area was attacked severally with resultant high casualties,
including 11 of the parents and guardians of the abducted girls, with
four killed by Boko Haram insurgents and seven due to trauma related
cases.
“A project worth mentioning today is the
Chibok burnt school, the school where the girls were abducted is yet to
be constructed over one year after the widely publicised reconstruction
foundation laying ceremony by the previous government. As peace
gradually returns to the Northeast, we urge the government and its
development partners under the Safe School Initiative (SSI) to fast
track the completion of the Chibok burnt school for the education of
children to commence.
“KADA wishes to use this opportunity to
appeal to Mr President to set up special search and rescue team with a
special mandate to locate and rescue the Chibok girls.”
The police blocked the road to the Villa and refused the group passage.
Culled from Nation
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