Tag: BBOG
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Photos: Bring back our girls rally
L-R Aisha Yusfu, Mrs Esther and Mr. Yakubu parents of the Chibok girls Members of the #BringBackOurGirls (BBOG) advocacy group in a solidarity protest in commemoration of two years abduction of the Chibok girls in Abuja. Marching to the Presidential villa FEMI OJO -
Chibok Girls: BBOG urges FG to speed up rescue effort
The Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) Movement on Wednesday implored the Federal Government to speed up effort at rescuing the abducted Chibok school girls.
Mr. Sesugh Akume, the spokesperson of BBOG told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that time was running out as the girls would have spent two years in captivity by April 14.
NAN reports that the female students were kidnapped from the Government Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, on the night of April 14, 2014 by the Boko Haram insurgents.
Akume said it was the duty of the Nigerian government to rescue the Chibok girls from Boko Haram captivity.
“On Jan. 14, we met with President Mohammadu Buhari and he promised to open an investigation into the abduction of these girls. It is three months now and that investigation is yet to be completed.
“Opening that investigation will lead to credible intelligence that will lead to the rescue of the Chibok girls.
“By tomorrow it will be 730 days since these girls were abducted. The previous government was slow in taking action, this new government gave us hope”, he said.
Akume said that BBOG movement would continue to agitate until the girls were released.
“We will not allow Nigerians, we will not allow the government, to forget the girls or treat the demand for their release as an irritating issue.
“We will focus on it, and we will keep calling on the government to ensure that the girls are brought back home, “Akume said.
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BBOG, Chibok girls’ parents march on Aso Villa
Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) campaign leader Dr. Oby Ezekwesili yesterday led members of the group and parents of the abducted Chibok Secondary School girls on a protest to the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Over 200 girls were abducted in their school in Borno State on April 14, 2014.
The group was received by Minister of Women Affairs Hajia Aisha Alhassan, Minister of Defence Brig. Gen. Dan Ali, National Security Adviser Babangana Monguno and Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Gabriel Olonishakin, at the old Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja.
But the group decried the failure of President Muhammadu Buhari to receive them at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Buhari, at the time of the protest, was receiving the visiting Benin Republic President Boni Yayi in his office.
After addressing the group, Alhassan asked Ezekwesili to brief the gathering on their mission to the Presidential Villa, but she politely declined.
The ex-minister, who insisted on meeting with the President, explained that Buhari in July promised to rescue the girls and they were in the Villa to hear from him on what he had done so far.
According to her, members of the movement had nothing to say until they hear from the President.
After explanations from each member of the government’s delegation, the National Security Adviser announced that he would try to get the President to come and address the group.
Ezekwesili also decried Alhassan’s remark that the group did not give enough notice before coming.
The former minister told Alhassan: “You have been unfair to the movement and Nigerians. When the minister, NSA, Chief of Defence Staff spoke, their tones connected with the parents.”
After about three hours of waiting, the President arrived around 1:45 p.m. after ending his meeting with Yayi.
He held a closed meeting with the parents and others.
Reporters were asked to leave the venue of the meeting when Buhari entered the hall.
A copy of the speech presented by Ezekwesili to the President during the closed meeting showed that the President was told that the Federal Government could not claim victory over Boko Haram without rescuing the girls.
The document reads: “It is, therefore, with the deepest pain and disappointment that the parents, Chibok community and our movement are here again six months after our July 8 meeting to register our absolute dissatisfaction on the lack of progress.
“Our Chibok girls have neither been rescued nor have the measures the Federal Government pledged being instituted. Our disappointment was worse recently when Mr. President shocked the parents into a deeper throe of agony when you publicly gave the excuse ‘that there is no credible information about the girls’ ‘whereabouts’ as the reason our Chibok girls have not been rescued.”
She added that the President’s remark left the parents, the community, the movement and the rest of the world in shock, considering that the Federal Government that had made the girls’ rescue a key indicator of success and defeat of Boko Haram, later declared victory on December 31.
“How can we declare that our nation has won the war when our 219 daughters and other abducted victims are still not back? The parents of our Chibok girls, whom you successfully persuaded at our July 8 meeting, had, following that meeting, told our movement that they had implicit trust in the words of Mr. President that “everything will be done to rescue our daughters…
“Mr. President, it is extremely sad that those same parents, who had placed their implicit confidence in your July 8 promise to rescue their daughters, are here today terribly traumatised, disconsolate and desperate for your reassurance and outline of convincing decisive action that would bring a positive closure to this historical tragedy.
“There is no better way to convey the depth of the devastation of these parents than the fact that we today have the largest ever contingent of them, who despite their meagre resources, have paid their way to Abuja to register their angst, disappointment and demand for rescue of their daughters by Mr. President and the military.”
Also speaking with reporters at the end of the meeting, Ezekwesili said: “Mr. President subsequently came to join this meeting and what the President said was that his statement during the media chat that they did not have credible intelligence was being truthful in the way that he knows how to be and that he was not prepared to tell any lies.
“That they do not have the kind of reliable intelligence that would enable them rescue the girls as immediately as we are demanding and that, therefore, we would continue to try to bear with him and that based on the fact that the government has recorded considerable success in decimating Boko Haram and its hold over the Northeast and that what remains is rescuing our Chibok girls and other affected citizens that are in abduction.
“And that, therefore, we will have to wait and that they would make the effort. He pleaded with the parents that his government would place as much efforts to rescuing the girls and that was the same message he had given to them before and that he was repeating the same message.
The President stated that he would also have expected us to acknowledge the efforts made, but that he wishes that we would agree that he was committed to the matter of our Chibok girls.
“He used the specific phrase that he sleeps and wakes up thinking about the rescue of our girls.”
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BBOG, Chibok girls’ parents march on Aso Villa
Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) campaign leader Dr. Oby Ezekwesili yesterday led members of the group and parents of the abducted Chibok Secondary School girls on a protest to the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Over 200 girls were abducted in their school in Borno State on April 14, 2014.
The group was received by Minister of Women Affairs Hajia Aisha Alhassan, Minister of Defence Brig. Gen. Dan Ali, National Security Adviser Babangana Monguno and Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Gabriel Olonishakin, at the old Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja.
But the group decried the failure of President Muhammadu Buhari to receive them at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Buhari, at the time of the protest, was receiving the visiting Benin Republic President Boni Yayi in his office.
After addressing the group, Alhassan asked Ezekwesili to brief the gathering on their mission to the Presidential Villa, but she politely declined.
The ex-minister, who insisted on meeting with the President, explained that Buhari in July promised to rescue the girls and they were in the Villa to hear from him on what he had done so far.
According to her, members of the movement had nothing to say until they hear from the President.
After explanations from each member of the government’s delegation, the National Security Adviser announced that he would try to get the President to come and address the group.
Ezekwesili also decried Alhassan’s remark that the group did not give enough notice before coming.
The former minister told Alhassan: “You have been unfair to the movement and Nigerians. When the minister, NSA, Chief of Defence Staff spoke, their tones connected with the parents.”
After about three hours of waiting, the President arrived around 1:45 p.m. after ending his meeting with Yayi.
He held a closed meeting with the parents and others.
Reporters were asked to leave the venue of the meeting when Buhari entered the hall.
A copy of the speech presented by Ezekwesili to the President during the closed meeting showed that the President was told that the Federal Government could not claim victory over Boko Haram without rescuing the girls.
The document reads: “It is, therefore, with the deepest pain and disappointment that the parents, Chibok community and our movement are here again six months after our July 8 meeting to register our absolute dissatisfaction on the lack of progress.
“Our Chibok girls have neither been rescued nor have the measures the Federal Government pledged being instituted. Our disappointment was worse recently when Mr. President shocked the parents into a deeper throe of agony when you publicly gave the excuse ‘that there is no credible information about the girls’ ‘whereabouts’ as the reason our Chibok girls have not been rescued.”
She added that the President’s remark left the parents, the community, the movement and the rest of the world in shock, considering that the Federal Government that had made the girls’ rescue a key indicator of success and defeat of Boko Haram, later declared victory on December 31.
“How can we declare that our nation has won the war when our 219 daughters and other abducted victims are still not back? The parents of our Chibok girls, whom you successfully persuaded at our July 8 meeting, had, following that meeting, told our movement that they had implicit trust in the words of Mr. President that “everything will be done to rescue our daughters…
“Mr. President, it is extremely sad that those same parents, who had placed their implicit confidence in your July 8 promise to rescue their daughters, are here today terribly traumatised, disconsolate and desperate for your reassurance and outline of convincing decisive action that would bring a positive closure to this historical tragedy.
“There is no better way to convey the depth of the devastation of these parents than the fact that we today have the largest ever contingent of them, who despite their meagre resources, have paid their way to Abuja to register their angst, disappointment and demand for rescue of their daughters by Mr. President and the military.”
Also speaking with reporters at the end of the meeting, Ezekwesili said: “Mr. President subsequently came to join this meeting and what the President said was that his statement during the media chat that they did not have credible intelligence was being truthful in the way that he knows how to be and that he was not prepared to tell any lies.
“That they do not have the kind of reliable intelligence that would enable them rescue the girls as immediately as we are demanding and that, therefore, we would continue to try to bear with him and that based on the fact that the government has recorded considerable success in decimating Boko Haram and its hold over the Northeast and that what remains is rescuing our Chibok girls and other affected citizens that are in abduction.
“And that, therefore, we will have to wait and that they would make the effort. He pleaded with the parents that his government would place as much efforts to rescuing the girls and that was the same message he had given to them before and that he was repeating the same message.
The President stated that he would also have expected us to acknowledge the efforts made, but that he wishes that we would agree that he was committed to the matter of our Chibok girls.
“He used the specific phrase that he sleeps and wakes up thinking about the rescue of our girls.
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Ambode pledges support for BBOG
Over 300 women, school pupils, activists and members of Chibok community resident in Lagos, joined a protest march which took off at the Obafemi Awolowo Way, Ikeja to press for the release of the girls alive by the Boko Haram group.
They chanted solidarity songs, displayed the portraits of the girls, placards and called on the relevant authorities to hasten action on the return of the abducted girls.
Governor Akinwunmi Ambode reiterated his administration’s commitment to the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) campaigns. He said the BBOG has kept hope alive for the missing girls.
Ambode said it was painful that the innocent schoolgirls were still in captivity after 500 days they were kidnapped, stressing that he was worried just like President Muhammadu Buhari was concerned.
He said: “Through your activities, the plight of the parents of the missing girls was not only brought to the fore, it has also kept hopes alive.
“We were very concerned and pained, when the girls were declared missing. We were more disturbed about the reaction of the past administration which was globally condemned as inadequate.
“We thank God that President Buhari has vowed to bring the girls back. I want to say categorically, that my administration fully identifies with the position expressed by government, that the girls will be brought back alive.”
Speaking on behalf of the BBOG, Dr. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi said the group needed the government’s the support.
She said: “Our advocacy methodology include a daily sit out in Abuja, weekly sit-out in Lagos, Osogbo and Ibadan. We visit relevant stakeholders on the matter. We devised the citizens’ solution to end terrorism and the verification, authentication and reunification system for security purpose.
“There are over two million IDPs in Nigeria and some of them are in Lagos State. We therefore, call on government to ensure that they are taken care of adequately.”
Former President of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) Mrs. Ayo Obe said:
“That is what is baffling us; we believe that they must be in more than one place. We are surprised and alarmed that not even one (of the girls) has been brought back.
Representative of Chibok community in Lagos, Mr. Moses Dakwa, said Chibok town had become a ghost community. He added that most of the youths had fled Chibok, leaving the aged to suffer.
He said: “After a series of protest by concerned Nigerians over the kidnapped girls, 500 days have passed but no result. I must say 15 out of the parents of the girls have died because of the grief.
“There is no standing school in the entire Chibok land. It is only our parents that are in Chibok. There is no single young man who is living in Chibok. Today we have over 10,000 Chibok indigenes scattered across the country,’’ he said.
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BBOG group to meet Buhari July 8
Members of the #BringBackOurGirls advocacy group have concluded plans to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday July 8.
The group wrote a letter to the President weeks earlier, demanding to meet with him to discuss the rescue of the Chibok girls who were abducted from their school in Borno State over a year ago and the continuous onslaught of the Boko Haram sect in the Northeastern part of the country.
A member of the group, Aisha Yesufu said that the group among other things will be discussing on what the government is doing towards ending terrorism in the country, rescuing the abducted Chibok girls and returning the peace and normalcy to the lives of people who have been disrupted by Boko Haram.
Yesufu who spoke on Sunday in Abuja after the usual sit out of the group added that the group was disappointed in the President for not giving a state of the nation address to the country with the huge casualty caused by Boko Haram in the last 30 days.
Her words, “We have certainly concluded plans to meet with the President by 12pm on Wednesday and when we get their we will discuss the rescue of the Chibok girls and also ask the President to tell us what is being done to end terrorism in the Northeast.”
” Over 400 people have been killed in by Boko Haram in the Northeast, that is a huge number. Every life matters and it is high time that the government begins to make Nigerians realise that all lives matters.
“We certainly believe that the President is doing all in his power to end terrorism but we need him to give a state of the union address, not just keep silent when people are killed in this country. We are tired of those twitter messages that comes out to tell us that he condemns the atrocities, we need to see him address the nation, to make Nigerians see that he empatises with the victims and their families.”
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BBOG demands apology, accountability from Jonathan
Members of the #BringBackOurGirls advocacy group have demanded an apology from President Goodluck Jonathan for attacking them and denying the abduction of the Chibok girls.
They said the group and the citizenry would never forgive the President, if he refuses to apologise for the part he played in ensuring the girls remained in captivity for over a year.
A member of the group, Mr. Chude Jideonwo, spoke yesterday in Abuja at a symposium marking the one year anniversary of advocating for the girls’ rescue.
His words: “We demand an apology from President Jonathan for not only denying the disappearance of these girls, but for attacking innocent citizens who stood up to demand that he did his job.
“He owes every single citizen of this country an apology or we will never forgive him.”
Another member of the group and Secretary, Kibaku Area Development Association (KADA), Dr. Allen Mannanseh, said the Chibok community and parents of the girls have demanded for full disclosure on the rescue mission.
He said the “family and friends of the girls want to know what happened to the girls or where they are; so that they can stop mourning”.
The community, Mannanseh added, has demanded for the prosecution of everyone involved in deceiving Nigerians on the ceasefire deal.
He said: “We are demanding that all those people involved in deceiving us and Nigerians on the alleged ceasefire deal be prosecuted in accordance with the law.”
#BBOG, in a statement by former Minister of Education Oby Ezekwesili and Hadiza Bala-Usman, said it considered the rescue of the 293 women and girls by the Nigerian Army from the Sambisa forest a healthy development in the counter-insurgency war.
The group, however, said its members were surprised when the spokesperson of the Nigerian Army, Col. S. K. Usman, said no Chibok girl was among the over women and girls rescued.
It added that its members were still overjoyed to welcome the rescued citizens, who were deprived of their freedom.
#BBOG demanded to know from what part of the country the rescued girls and women came from and why the public was not informed of their abduction.
It stated: “We have in the last one year of our advocacy for our #ChibokGirls, persistently conveyed that we consider our #ChibokGirls the symbol of the suffering, killings, abductions, destabilisation and degradation in the Northeast. Although, like others, we often read news of random abductions before and after the massive scale of the abduction of our 276 school girls of Chibok, we never imagined that a rescue of this magnitude of abducted people is possible without been our #ChibokGirls. The reason for this is simple.
“There was never a time in the last one year that the Federal Government or our military, directly executing the counter-insurgency war, informed the public that large catchments of our citizens other than the Chibok Girls were in terrorist custody.
“So, we join members of the public in asking for an immediate verification and authentication of the 200 girls and the 93 women that were rescued.
“From what part of the country were the rescued 200 girls and 93 women abducted? When were they abducted? Why and who abducted them? How were they abducted? Was the original incident ever reported to or by our security agencies? Why were the public without information of his abduction? Can the public have more disclosure surrounding the events of the rescue mission? Were there casualties during the rescue exercise? Where were the terrorists that held the abductees in captivity? In what state were they found when the rescue took place?”
The group added that it has designed a verification, authentication and reuniting system that are holistic for rehabilitation, reintegration and resettlement of victims of abduction.
It hailed the military and the Multinational Joint Task Force for the positive turn in the counterinsurgency effort since the six weeks operation started on February 14 2015.
It, however, said: “For us in the #BringBackOurGirls movement, there shall be no retreat no surrender of our advocacy until our #ChibokGirls are rescued by the government.”
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‘Boko Haram’s ultimate goal is to recreate old Kanem-Bornu Empire’
Abuja-based writer and literary critic, Dr Emman Shehu, is a prominent face of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) campaign which has been pressurising the government for the release of secondary school girls abducted in Chibok, Borno State in May by the religious insurgents Boko Haram. Shehu in this interview with Joe Agbro Jr. reveals the campaign won’t stop till the girls are back. Excerpts
You’ve been so passionate about the rescue of the abducted Chibok girls. But Boko Haram has also kidnapped othergirls, women and young men, why has the focus only been on Chibok girls ?
That is what people have observed and why some people are critical of the advocacy but the important thing is that before Bring Back Our Girls, have Nigerians ever come together on a platform to even make a strong showing against the insurgency. Nothing of the sort.Not even from the federal government. It (federal government) has been more concern with politics, with even taunting those who are victims of the insurgency. A good example I would give you is when the Borno State governor came and made a passionate plea for something to be done because as far as he was concerned, Boko Haram was more motivated, more armed and were posing a serious threat not just to the citizens of the northeast but to the survival of the Nigerian state. And the presidency virtually humiliated him. And it is that attitude of ‘it is their problem, it is not our problem’ that has led to the situation where in February of this year, 69 youths were slaughtered by Boko Haram in a Federal Government College (BuniYadi). And the federal government and the rest of Nigeria did not bother. These are the future of the country. There were slaughtered. And the president was hosting a centenary, wining and making speeches, not even a minute’s silence in honour of these youths who have been slaughtered. Not even a word to commiserate with their parents. And of course Boko Haram got emboldened and the next thing was dramatic and unacceptable abduction of over 300 girls. And for some of us, it was like, ‘wow, wait a minute, what is going on?’ what kind of country is this that the government acts with impunity and the insurgents are also acting with even worse impunity. We can’t go on like this as a nation. We’re a country where we talk so much about our religions- Christianity and Islam and yet the religions in their sacred talks about being our brother’s keeper, loving our neighbour as ourselves and what we are manifesting is totally different. So, we felt that it was time to draw a line in the sand to say, ‘no, we cannot go on like this. We needed to call people’s attention to the fact that it is unacceptable that over 300 girls should be abducted and life should be normal. This is not to take away the fact that there have been abductions before (the Chibok girls) and there have been abductions after. But the important thing is that these girls are being used as a peg for the whole insurgency issue. And of course, for the issue of accountability because if you’re in a situation where insurgents can brazenly go to an institution and pick up over 300 students, then it shows the feeling of the military which was underscored by the fact that even the military kept telling lies about the initial rescue of the girls which never happened. It has been one lie after the other by those who have sworn by the constitution to provide security and well-being for the rest of Nigerians. And that is the sole reason why this has become a rallying cause for us.
Recently, a ceasefire was announced where there were some plans that there might be exchange for the girls. But this did not happen. How did the Bring Back Our Girls campaign take the news before and after?
If Nigerians go to our website (www.bringbackourgirls.ng), they would see a chronology of lies and deception that the government has been issuing in the name of rescuing the girls. And so by the time this announcement was made, we were sure that there were some elements of deception behind it. But then, we needed also to give government the benefit of doubt. And therefore, we put out a statement saying we are constantly optimistic but we needed government to spell out the terms of the ceasefire so that we would know that it is a genuine ceasefire. So, our position has vindicated us that at the end of the day, it was all bunkum. It was all a scam. Bring Back Our Girls campaign which we thought has lost its momentum had suddenly by day 200 all over the world (revved). And international singers once again added their voice to the cause, especially the American singer, Alicia Keys who on her social media platform alone has over 20 million followers. And she came out publicly to lend her voice to the cause. So, that rattled the government because after all they had done to supress us, to sweep all our demands under the carpet, hiring thugs to beat us up, trying to crowd us out, even at the Unity Fountain by hiring Pro-Jonathan (people). And even that group they madetrying to truncate the Bring Back Our Girls campaign by putting up Bring Back Jonathan. All those things failed. The president needed to declare but he didn’t have the moral platform. There was a moral burden involved. So, this was something that was thought out. They needed to take away the attention, reduce the momentum it had built, and of course create a window of opportunity, some kind of credibility for the president to be able to collect his form and make his declaration. So, it was all a scam. Personally, I knew it was a scam because from my own investigations, Hassan Tukur had not been out of Abuja all through that week preceding the announcement of the ceasefire and the so-called negotiations. All my contacts confirmed the fact that the so-called Boko Haram spokesperson Danladi Ahmadu was not a member of Boko Haram. So, it was obviously a big scam which also involved the Chadians. So, I am not surprised personally. BBOG is not surprised. We’re terribly disappointed because this is an international disgrace for Nigeria.
On the part of the Nigerian military, we’ve heard of mutinies, desertions, tactical manoeuvres where Nigerian soldiers found themselves in Cameroun and Boko Haram keeps gaining ground in the northeast. With such developments, how optimistic are you of getting the abducted girls back?
Well, as a Christian, my faith is anchored on hope. Usually when there is no visible reason to hope, even when you don’t see things physically in the physical realm to hope. But I believe that because these girls are innocent, that it is the state that failed them, that God also would not fail them. And that is why we have the responsibility of keeping their cause on the front-burner. The video that Shekau released, for the ordinary Nigerian and for the rest of the world, they may feel depressed by what he said. But actually we even see it as a sign of hope for the girls because it is obvious that Shekau’s message was also partly addressed to us. When he said the girls are married off, for us, it is an indication that even Boko Haram is even mindful of our advocacyand all they want us to do like the FG also wants us to do is to go home, forget about the girls’ issue. But we will not because as long as we continue to advocate, the girls’ issue is not only in the national limelight, it is in the international limelight. And that is a cause for concern even for Boko Haram. It should be a cause for concern for the federal government and even for Jonathan who wants to be re-elected because the longer it lingers, the more it becomes an election issue unfortunately for him.
Some quarters have accused the press, especially the Nigerian press of thwarting efforts of security officials of arresting the Boko Haram insurgency. As a writer yourself, do you agree with all that?
The media has in fact contributed to the mess we are in by actually not doing more reporting, relying more on hand-out from the government and from military rather than doing proper investigative reporting. And that is why it has been possible for government to put out more propaganda to deceive Nigerians. Look at what happened in Konduga. The impression was created through the help of the media that Boko Haram was being battered. And yet, anybody with a basic sense of strategy knows that what Boko Haram was doing was merely to tie down, delay certain arms of the military in that sector of the war. That was what happened. If the military actually had a strategy, a well-thought out plan for fighting the insurgency, if they actually had victory in Konduga, why didn’t they turn that victory into an authority? What has happened after all the noise of killing 100 or 200 Boko Haram? I mean, if you see some of these stories in the media, you will wonder who are the editors, who are the gatekeepers that cannot ask simple basic questions. Who was there to count the number of dead bodies? To me, the media has worsened the situation because the media has not played its role as a fourth realm of the estate. It has not gone out of its way. Unfortunately, it is the foreign media has been the one giving us a more balanced reporting. As I speak with you (Wednesday) the federal government-owned media houses have not even reported the fall of Mubi. And that is why a lot of Nigerians are believing in the propaganda which is inspired by the federal government and they are not aware that Boko Haram has captured so much territory. If the insurgence took over Yola, it means they have an airport. If they have an airport, what does that translate to? It means that now, they actually can come in with aircrafts and no part of Nigeria will be safe because they can even bomb the president’s place of abode. That’s what it means.
How do you think Boko Haram can be stopped or eradicated?
Number one thing is to stop politicising the whole issue. Why Boko Haram has lingered and festered like a sore and become so virulent is because the issue has been politicised. Instead of addressing the issues, we got into a mode of ‘Oh, they are APC states, it is APC people, it is Boko Haram people, it is those Abokis. So, the reality has come to stare us in the face now gradually that we are in a big problem. First of all, we do not have at the official level, a proper understanding of the dynamics of Boko Haram. Even them (Boko Haram) are no longer interested in taking over the whole of Nigeria. They are interested in carving out their own territory which would run into Cameroun, Niger and Chad to recreate the old Kanem-Bornu Empire. Also, you do not go to fight people who are shooting at you with RPGs and you have only 20 rounds of ammunition. Even the American Ambassador confirmed it a couple of weeks ago.
Are you worried that with elections may overshadow the demand for getting the Chibok girls back?
That would not change anything. We will keep demanding that those girls must be rescued. Even if they are married off, they must be identified wherever they are and brought back so that the proper thing is done. Their parents would want to see a proper marriage the same way the president had a proper marriage for his foster daughter.
In all these, what is your greatest fear?
My greatest fear is that the country will face a crisis it may never be able to control for quite a long time because we are in a scenario where we may get an insurgency that will just keep going on and on if we do not address it now. They could go on and hold an election but after the elections, what happens? Has the insurgency ended? So, it might turn out to be a pyrrhic victory for whoever wins the elections because the greater problem has not been addressed. That is my worry.
Are you weary atimes?
Of course… it’s natural. I’m a human being. We have expectations, especially for those of our members who are very trusting of the government, who wants to believe that the government is sincere. All the disappointments make them weary – just going out every day. Today is day 205 (Wednesday) of the abduction and we have been coming out for 190 days non-stop. This itself is a record. But it is not the issue of the record, it is the issue of the genuineness of the advocacy and it is demanding, especially what we have to suffer from the state that treats us as enemies and other Nigerians who have lost their sense of empathy.
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#BBOG queries govt on N80b victim support fund
The #BringBackOurGirls (#BBOG) advocacy group is asking the government why it is taking so long to implement the N80 billion victims support fund to care for insurgency victims.
It said while the National Information Centre (NIC) Coordinator, Mike Omeri, told BBC Hausa that they were waiting to reach a certain amount, Boko Haram victims were suffering and dying.
The group accused the government of ignoring many helpless Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
Speaking yesterday in Abuja at the group’s usual sit-out, a member, Abiola Sanusi, said: “After listening to survivors of Boko Haram, I call them survivors even though some may refer to them as victims, I ask the government what is being done with the N80 billion victims support fund that was raised to care for people suffering as a result of Boko Haram?
“What is the Borno State government doing to rehabilitate the escaped Chibok girls and their parents who are experiencing psychological trauma? The other day, Mike Omeri was speaking on BBC Hausa and he was asked why they were yet to implement the fund and he said they were waiting for it to reach a certain amount. What are they waiting for while these survivors are suffering with barely enough food to eat and some are dying from diseases? Why is the Federal Government allowing them to suffer and is not assisting them?”
Another member, Fatima Abba-Kaka, who visited several IDP camps in Borno, said the government had failed the IDPs.
She said: “There are about 18 official IDP camps in Maiduguri, but several other IDPs take cover in the homes of influential people. The camps are something else and the people are suffering with barely enough food and medicine.
“Their existence is an unfortunate issue that the government is trying to avoid or deny, but we can see the havoc caused by Boko Haram in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa. The victims of this carnage are increasing everyday.
“Personally, my government has failed me and these people don’t even know if they have a government. The state government is providing little relief materials for them in the absence of the Federal Government, but there is corruption in the camps and the victims are being shortchanged
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BBOG shocked at increased insurgency since ‘ceasefire’
Members of the #BringBackOurGirls advocacy have expressed shock at the increased number of attacks by Boko Haram in the Northeast and Mubi Local Government Area of Adamawa State.
#BBOG said that it is gravely disturbed that the insurgency seems to be engulfing more cities after the Federal Government confidently announced a ceasefire.
The group, which commiserated with all Nigerians that have lost family and friends to the Mubi attacks, said that they fiercely hope and demand that the Federal Government moves immediately to restore the territorial integrity of Nigeria in the coming days.
#BBOG stated this in a press statement signed by former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, and the group’s convener, Hadiza Usman, marking 200 days of the abduction of the Chibok girls, who were abducted from the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok.
It stated,: “We wish to express our commiserations with all Nigerians who may have lost dear relations or friends in the Mubi Local Government Area of Adamawa State and the neighbouring communities as the towns and villages in the zone came under heavy and horrendous assaults from the Boko Haram insurgents in the last few days.
“We are shocked and gravely perturbed that the insurgency seems to be engulfing more cities within the North-East zone even at a time the Federal Government confidently announced a ceasefire in its counter terrorism war. It is extremely worrisome that the rampaging terrorists are carrying out this carnage in Mubi and other parts of the North East less than two weeks after the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Bardeh, publicly conveyed a stand down instruction to our troops prosecuting the war.
“We, like most Nigerians, are at a loss on what the latest development means to our counter insurgency war and the safety of our citizens and territory. Has the purported ‘ceasefire’ failed, in the assessment of our military and the Federal Government? What explains the gruesome reality that after the “ceasefire” announcement of October 16, the terrorists have been attacking many more communities, especially in Borno and Adamawa states? How do we explain the escalation in the number of innocent people killed or taken hostage after they had been informed by our government of a truce and détente?
“Our movement is privy to several on-the-scene reports of the bloody and horrendous attacks on Mubi as told by affected persons. For example, the family of two of our abducted #ChibokGirls were involved in an accident earlier today in which two of their daughters sustained injuries while fleeing Mubi. Another case concerns a member of our movement who has lost contact with about thirty members of his nuclear and extended families that were resident in Mubi. Even more heart wrenching are confirmed reports of Internally Displaced Persons camped in Mubi town who are yet again on the run now, unsure of destinations to find safety.
“While we continue to fiercely hope, we demand that the Federal Government moves immediately to restore the territorial integrity of Nigeria in the coming days. We also demand that the worsening humanitarian conditions of all Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) be immediately addressed and their suffering ameliorated. Lastly, we cannot but remind our Federal Government and our President that time is running out fast on the Rescue Plans for our 219 Chibok Girls. Since the confident announcement was made that our girls would be brought back two weeks ago, a number of their agonizing parents were hospitalized for hypertension. We must by all means avoid any situation that would be fatal for these long suffering families of our Chibok Girls.”