‘Buhari’s govt now irritated, cold, hearing about Chibok Girls’

ABUJA – Ahead of the third anniversary of the kidnap of
over 200 school girls in Chibok, the Bring Back Our Girls
BBOG movement has accused the President
Muhammadu Buhari administration of trying to shut the
group up, saying the president now gets cold and
irritated at the mention of the girls’ abduction.

In a statement issued Friday night in Abuja and signed by
Aisha Yesufu, the BBOG said; “These days, we have
observed a coldness, ominous silence and irritability of
key officials whenever the government is reminded of its
constitutional duty to rescue ChibokGirls and all other
abducted citizens”.
The abduction which caused an international outrage
formed a major plank of the electioneering campaign of
the All Progressives Congress APC and Mr Buhari.
The statement came barely seven days to the third
anniversary of the abduction which took place on April
14, 2014.
Part of the statement reads:
“Today is Day 1089 since schoolgirls of Government
Secondary School, Chibok were abducted in their school
by terrorist; 57 escaped, 24 returned, 195 of them
remain missing.
It is Day 674 of their captivity under President
Muhammadu Buhari’s watch. It is Day 1074 of our
movement’s daily advocacy demanding that the Federal
Government discharges its constitutional duty and
rescue the abducted girls from terrorist captivity. In
another 7 days it will be 3 years since the tragic events
of that night.
Tragically, 195 of our young women whose only sin was
their quest for knowledge are left by their government to
remain in terrorist enclave.
“We are utterly disappointed at the Government of
Nigeria’s abysmal handling of this historical tragedy and
are at a loss at the obvious emotional disconnect and
insincerity that have defined the actions and words of
the President and his government on this matter.
None of the commitments made by the government
concerning the rescue of our ChibokGirls has been
followed through.
“Our movement, BBOG fails to understand why this is so
but one thing definite for us is that we shall not stop
keeping the President and the administration accountable
we remain undeterred in our demand. That is why even
though filled with excruciating pain at the protractedness
of this tragedy, we have today commenced our 8-Day
Global Week of Action with diverse activities to mark 3
years of our ChibokGirls abduction and their continued
captivity by terrorists. This tragic third year of Global
Week of Action has the theme hash-tagged as :
3YearsTooLong: #NoMoreExcuses.
“We enter the third year of our Girls being left in terrorist
captivity with the constant shock that the Presidency
which last October (2016 ) told the world that 83 more
of our ChibokGirls were on their way out of captivity
“very soon”, has since adopted deafening silence as a
tool of avoidance of accountability. What reason can the
Federal Government have for never providing progress
reports on the status of its rescue operation for our
Girls? Except for cursory remarks made by the Minister
of Information in January , the Federal Government has
acted in manner that suggests that rescuing our
ChibokGirls is a matter of lowest importance on its
agenda. We denounce this posture that is indicative of
lack of respect for the dignity of the life of the Nigerian
Girl Child of which our ChibokGirls are symbols.
“We also recall that President Muhammadu Buhari had
on 14 January 2016 authorised the set up of yet another
investigation into the abduction . It is extremely pathetic
that nothing has come out of that pronouncement. The
situation is worsened by the fact that the federal
government shockingly denied our Movement’s use of
the Freedom of Information (FOI) to request to access
the report of the Presidential Committee that
investigated into the abduction (General Sabo
Committee) in 2014.
“Furthermore, regarding the 24 ChibokGirls that are back,
the media reports of sparse information from the
government on there wellbeing almost only touches on
the 21 it negotiated release. We ask, where are the other
3 ChibokGirls? The poor and rather opaque
communication by the FG on its rehabilitation program
for the 24 Girls keeps even families in the dark leading to
some asking for updates from our movement.
“The Government had woefully disappointed the Nigerian
public on the entirety of its shoddy handling of our
ChibokGirls and their tragedy. This Global Week of Action
is a time that our Movement loudly declares , ‘Enough is
Enough’, No More Excuses, Bring Back Our Girls! Now
and Alive!! Close to 2 years ago during our Global Week
of Action to mark Day 500 of the abduction, our theme
was ‘500 Days is too long’. Today, sadly we are
reiterating on the third year of the abduction, we have no
intention of repeating this. #3YearsTooLong:
#NoMoreExcuses #BringBackOurGirls.
“This Global Week of Action shall be marked in cities in
Nigeria (Lagos and Abuja), New York, Paris, etc; and
shall run for 7 straight days as usual. Kindly view
website www.bringbackourgirls.ng to see details and to
participate.
In Abuja where activities commenced today with Asr
(Islamic) prayers, we shall have duo marches by
different sets eminent personalities, celebrities, Chibok
mothers, et al from Unity Fountain to the State House
every day with the theme #IMarchForChibokGirls.
Other events include treeplanting, a workshop on the
Missing Persons Register, an initiative of our movement
which is being worked on in collaboration with the federal
government and her relevant agencies: the National
Human Rights Commission, Nigeria Police Force, and
others.
The events will be capped on Friday 14 April with the
Inaugural #ChibokGirls Annual Lecture: ‘Where Goes the
Girl-Child there Goes the Nation’ to be delivered by His
Highness, Muhammad Sanusi II CON, a well-recognised
advocate for girl-child liberation/ empowerment and
education.
The event shall be eminently chair by Professor Grace
Alele-Williams, the first Nigerian female to receive a
doctoral degree, first Nigerian female professor of
mathematics education, and the first female to be a vice
chancellor of a university in Africa”.