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Tag: Chibok girls

  • Women society prays for Chibok girls

    Women society prays for Chibok girls

    The Nigeria National Council of Women Society (NCWS) have prayed for the release of the over 200 girls abducted by the Boko Haram sect from Chibok on April 15.

    The prayers held at the society’s office on Victoria Island, Lagos, was graced by over 15 local government executive members who prayed for the quick rescue of the girls.

    The President, Mrs Iyabo Osifeso, said the security situation in the country is poor and has given room for the abduction of the girls. She warned that children are the special gift from God  and should be protected.

    “We should protect the child from all forms of abuse.  This should be the yardstick against which all decisions concerning the child should be measured,” she said.

    She added that the sad feeling of the abduction has spread across the country.

    “The abduction has affected the families and environment to the extent that it is restricting access to development and hindering the enjoyment of other human beings,” she said.

  • Crack in Chibok girls campaign

    Crack in Chibok girls campaign

    Another dimension has been introduced into the campaign  for rescue of the over 200 secondary schoolgirls abducted in Chibok, Borno State almost two months ago.

    A splinter group, which broke out of the ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ campaign, stormed the Unity Fountain Arena in Abuja claiming that the campaign has been hijacked by political activists for partisan reasons.

    While the former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili-led group wore red T-shirts and believed that the government was not doing enough to rescue the girls, the splinter group wearing white T-shirt pushed for commendation for government and security agencies in the rescuing efforts.

    Priscilla Achakpa, the Co-Convener of the white T-shirt group of the ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ campaign operating under the platform of the Grand Alliance Against Terrorism (GAAT), believed that all Nigerians should be able to speak with one voice against terror and avoid distracting the government in the effort to rescue the girls and crush terrorism in Nigeria.

    The two groups, however, agreed that everything should be done to rescue the girls.

    Declaring that the government was not doing enough, Ezekwesili led her group in protest to submit a letter containing 10 posers for President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday, May 22, 2014. The group, known as Citizens’ Group was met by Jonathan’s representatives led by Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim at the Federal Secretariat, Abuja before the group could access the Presidential Villa gate.

    She said: “It is because of the sake of citizen collaboration that we listened to the delegation of Mr. President. You have to tell Mr. President that the answers we have received are inadequate.”

    One of the posers reads: “We need the President to establish the authenticity of the abduction as well as why it took so long to act, as there seems to be an obvious shortfall in our military operatives as well as their welfare package, considering the recent mutiny. Citizens are concerned, especially in view of the strong indications of weak communication and operational synergy leading to gaps in accountability?”

    At the end of President Jonathan’s speech read by one of his representatives, Ezekwesili said: “Please, let Mr. President know that none of the issues we raised have been addressed. Also, let him know that we actually felt sad at the missed opportunity. There is a colossal opportunity. The citizens that are gathered here today are citizens who are saying that they do not want any fractious fight against a common enemy. We want a united fight.”

    But leading a parallel body at the same venue where the Ezekwesili-led group has been observing a daily sit-out for weeks and exactly three days after Ezekwesili submitted the letter, Achakpa, with over 200 followers, protested and carried various placards with some of the inscriptions reading: “This House Must not Fall”, “God Bless Nigerian Armed Forces”, “We need peace in Nigeria, Say no to terrorism”, “Thank you Nigerian Armed Forces”, “I support my country”, and “Thank you Nigerian Police”.

    At the rally, Achakpa said: “We are proud Nigerian patriots who care deeply about the image of our country, the integrity of our nation and the humanity of the Nigerian person. We are not political activists who want to exploit a national tragedy to further a narrow, partisan cause.

    “We will rather pray for our leaders, support our government and encourage our security agencies as best as we can to win the war against terror.”

    Continuing, she said: “Our struggle is not just to bring back our girls; our struggle goes deeper than that. Our struggle is to mobilise our people against the scourge of terrorism, to enlighten them about its devilish pact and to rally them to remain patient and focused until victory is achieved.

    “Our struggle is to ensure that our girls come back home and also contribute to the peace and stability of our dear country, Nigeria. With God on our side, the journey may be long and difficult but we shall overcome terror in our land.”

    Stressing that they were the initiators of the campaign, she said: “We (Women United for Peace, True Friends of Nigeria and Women Environment Programme), were at the forefront of the launch of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. We are happy that the campaign we started has now been globally acknowledged and accepted and more actions are still ongoing,” she added.

    The group, on Monday last week, came out in their hundreds to pray for the abducted girls.

    Reacting to the news that same day from the Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh that the location of the girls have been discovered, the Secretary General of GAAT, Mr. Ariyo Atoye, said it was re-assuring news as he appealed to Nigerians not to distract the military from rescuing the girls.

    Another group, Citizens’ Initiative for Security Awareness (CISA), same Monday also marched on the streets of the Federal Capital Territory, calling for support for the military’s counter-insurgency operations in the Northeast.

    Ever since that day, there have been various groups protesting in Abuja or other parts of the country; either blaming the government or supporting the government and the armed forces in the rescuing efforts.

    Some of them wear yellow, green, black, white or red-coloured T-shirts or other attires during the protests.

    It is our hope that the crack in the campaign for the release of the girls will not further over-heat the polity and won’t work against efforts to secure safe release of the girls.

  • Borno to relocate ‘escaped schoolgirls’ to other states

    The Borno State government has said it will relocate some of the schoolgirls that escaped from Boko Haram’s den to another schools in Zaria, Abuja or Lagos to complete their education.

    The government also plans to invite American counseling experts to Maiduguri for the 57 escaped schoolgirls.

    However, all the escaped girls who were at the Government House, Maiduguri, declined to speak to journalists as they kept sealed lips throughout.

    The plan to relocate the girls was disclosed Monday in Maiduguri at the Government House, during Governor Kashim Shettima closed door meeting with parents of the girls, the Chairman of Chibok Local Government Area, Mr. Bana Lawan and the escaped schoolgirls.

    The governor said, “The abduction of schoolgirls by the Boko Haram gunmen does not only affect parents here present in this council chamber, but all of us, including my humble self and other stakeholders in Borno state. I have daughters too and as a leader, people’s lives and property must be protected, including the rehabilitation of traumatized girls and their parents.

    “These girls have no other place to go.

    “We also have no plans to politicize the abduction of over 200 innocent schoolgirls from their school on April 14 by suspected Boko Haram gunmen.

    “If any person doubts the abduction of the schoolgirls, let him or her go to the affected town and meet the parents.”

    “We are taking these girls here in this council chamber to a school in either Zaria, or Abuja or Lagos, but we will not disclose the name of the Secondary Schools in which they will complete their secondary education that had been interrupted by their abduction.”

    He further disclosed that each escaped abducted schoolgirl, was to complete their secondary education at the cost of N1.5 million.

  • 219 Chibok girls’ ordeal, by Australian negotiator

    219 Chibok girls’ ordeal, by Australian negotiator

    •Jonathan hires foreign mediator               •Cameroun troops kill 40 Boko Haram men

    SOME of the over 200 abducted Chibok schoolgirls have painted a picture of life in Boko Haram custody.

    Referring to a video said to have been seen by it, The Mail on Sunday  yesterday claimed that eight girls spoke in the footage. The girls, dressed in their pale blue gingham school uniform, were said to have pleaded for release.

    The video, which the paper described as “heartbreaking”, was said to have been shot in a jungle clearing a month after the girls’ abduction.

    An Australian cleric, Dr. Stephen Davis, said to have been hired by President Goodluck Jonathan, is negotiating for the release of the girls, who were abducted in their school on April 15.

    Dr. Davis, described as a friend of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has been working secretly in Nigeria for almost a month now, the newspaper said.

    At the weekend, Cameroun security forces killed no fewer than 40 Boko Haram militants in clashes in the country’s far north, the state radio said yesterday.

    Describing how the girls looked on the video, The Mail on Sunday said: “They are clearly scared, upset and trying to be brave. Each of them walks in turn to a spot in front of a white sheet fixed to a crude frame between the trees.”

    Four of them, it said, could be heard clearly, in Hausa, stating that they were taking by force and that they are hungry.

    “A tall girl, aged about 18, says tearfully, ‘my family will be worried’.

    “Another speaking softly, says: ‘I never expected to suffer like this in my life’. A third says: ‘They have taken us away by force’. The fourth girl complains: ‘We are not getting enough food’.”

    The girls were said to have looked healthy and spoken bravely. Some are, however, said to have fallen ill, including one with a broken wrist.

    The video, taken by an intermediary on May 19, is said to have been shown to Dr. Jonathan to serve as “proof of life” for the girls and to encourage him to accede to Boko Haram’s demands.

    Two earlier videos showed the girls seated on the ground, dressed in hijab, reciting the Quran, and Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau declaring he would sell them into slavery, or marry them off to their kidnappers, if members of his sect were not released from prison.

    Dr. Davis, the paper said is “desperately” trying to free the girls after leaving his home in Perth, Australia, to travel to Nigeria following his recruitment by Dr. Jonathan for his hostage negotiation expertise.

    The former Canon Emeritus at Coventry Cathedral in the UK, who moved back to Australia last year, reportedly told MailOnline: “I am encouraged by the progress.”

    He was asked to come to Nigeria after previously brokering a truce between the government and Niger Delta militants in 2004.

    Along with Mr Welby, he was frequently blindfolded and held at gunpoint during his peace work.

    In an email from Nigeria, Davis revealed he has had “ongoing contact” with the groups involved in kidnappings in the North for seven years.

    “This is a long process of building trust on both sides,” he said.

    “There are several groups to deal with as the girls are held in several camps. This makes any thought of a rescue highly improbable. To attempt to rescue one group would only endanger the others.”

    Despite the difficulties of a rescue operation, Dr Davis remains hopeful that the girls will be freed.

    “Every day there is the possibility of the release of the girls,” he said.

    “This is painful for the parents and the nation. The well-being of the girls is constantly on our minds and we want to see their release as soon as possible,” he said, adding: “We must not endanger their lives any further”.

    Pressure from the international community and criticism of the President’s slow response to the kidnapping have led to a series of contradictory pronouncements from his administration.

    Ministers have declared that the government would not negotiate with Boko Haram, or consider the release of prisoners, while official spokesmen have said “the window is always open for dialogue”.

    At a Paris peace summit, several West African countries vowed to join Nigeria in an “outright war” against Boko Haram. Britain, France and America pledged their support and have sent teams of military experts and advisers to the region.

    Intelligence sources have told The Mail on Sunday of several rescue attempts, one involving the release of suspected low-level Boko Haram members detained without charges or trial.

    Two attempts were aborted at the last minute when the sect members became afraid while delivering a group of girls to a safe location.

    Last week, the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, said the government knew the location of the girls, claiming that the police and military had been “following them” since the abduction. He refused to divulge details, saying it would put the girls in further danger.

    Sources said Marshal Badeh’s remark may have been the result of government officials seeing the new, unpublished video. They may have been able to persuade Boko Haram’s intermediary to provide details of the location. It is believed the hostages have been split into at least four groups.

    “The vast majority of the Chibok girls are not being held in Nigeria,” Dr Davis said, adding: “They are in camps across the Nigerian border in Cameroon, Chad and Niger. I say the vast majority as I know a small group was confirmed to me to be in Nigeria last week when we sought to have them released.”

    He described how tough the negotiation has been.

    “One of that small group of girls is ill and we had hoped we might convince the commander of the group holding her that she should be released so we could give her medical treatment.

    “There are other girls who are not well and we have come close to having them released but their captors fear a trap in which they will be captured in the handover process.

    “One girl has what I assume is a broken wrist as they demonstrate to me how she holds her hand. I have been told that others are sick and in need of medical attention,” Davis said.

    A military source said: “This has been a race against time from the minute they were captured. As soon as the girls left Nigerian soil it was always going to be more difficult.

    “The government made no attempt at a rescue until a month after they were taken. Now the situation gets more serious by the day.

    “Any sort of attempt to get them would have to be cleared by the governments of the other nations.”

    Condemnations of the government’s failure to address the Boko Haram menace, ever since a proposed peace deal failed last August – leading to the extension of a state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states – continued worldwide last week.

    US Senator Robert Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Nigeria had been “tragically and unacceptably slow” to begin a search.

    Former anti-graft czar Nuhu Ribadu has accused the government of “total failure”.

  • Chibok girls: School children in Amaechi’s community threaten to boycott class

    Chibok girls: School children in Amaechi’s community threaten to boycott class

    Primaryand secondary school children in Ubima, the home town of Governor Rotimi Amaechi in Ikwerre Local Government Area, Rivers State, yesterday joined the rest of the world to demand the rescue of close to 300 secondary school girls abducted by the Boko Haram sect from Chibok, Borno State.

    In a peaceful rally and prayer session, which took place at the Universal Basic Education Model Primary School, Ubima was organised by Ikwerre Citizen for Democratic Movement (ICDM), a foremost socio-political and economic organisation.

    The children, supported by other sympathisers from the community, threatened to boycott learning if the fate of abducted schoolgirls remained uncertain.

    Favour Anthony, who spoke on behalf of other school children, said the rally became necessary because the girls were yet to  reunite with their families since they were abducted on April 15.

    He said they were glad that ICDM had given them a voice in the issue, making them the first set of students from a rural community to join other children in the bring-back-our-girls campaign.

    “We are very happy that ICDM mobilised this rally. We are calling for the immediate release of our sisters in the northern part of the country. We are going to boycott class for weeks if nothing is done to release them,” he said.

    Another student, Victor Felix of State School II, Ubima said he was not happy that close to 300 teenagers would be helplessly taken away in their own country and would not return.

    He said: “I am unhappy that we are not safe in our own country. Nobody can secure us. That means someday, criminals could take us away and we would be protesting, pleading with them to release us.

    “And where is the authority and power vested in government, which we were taught in school?”

    Comrade Paul Amadi, the National Publicity Secretary of ICDM, said the body decided to mobilise the students for the rally because they wanted the students in the rural communities to be part of the sincere voices in the campaign.

    Amadi said: “We want them to share the feelings of others by joining the great  bring-back-our-girls capaign. We must look beyond ethnicity in times of trouble in this country. Those children are our children and whatever we could do, we will, to ensure their freedom.

    “The choice of Ubima for this campaign is clear. It is politically the head of communities in Rivers State, and in support of Governor Amaechi’s voice in the bring-back-our-girls campaign all over the world, it becomes paramount to show empathy to the families of the abducted girls.”

  • Abia PFN condemns Chibok girls’ forced conversion

    The Abia State chapter of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) has condemned the reported forceful conversion to Islam of the Chibok schoolgirl abducted by Boko Haram on April 14.

    The body described it as a barbaric act and gross violation of the girls’ fundamental human rights.

    A recent video clip released by the insurgents who claimed responsibility for the abduction, showed the girls mostly Christians prior to their kidnapping, dressed in hijab and reciting Islamic incantations apparently being teleguided.

    In a press statement signed by the chairman of the state chapter of the PFN, Rev. Dr. Theophilus Anyimson, and made available to the press, the Christian body renewed its earlier call for a global action against the Islamic fundamentalists and their sponsors.

    The Abia PFN said that the conversion by coercion is a sin both against humanity and “God who has always given man the right to make choices in any matter especially as they concern the issue of religion”.

    The PFN group said, “Kidnapping and converting Christians to Islam by force is an affront to Christianity which cannot be accepted ,” and called on the international community to stand up against the evil tide which they said is capable of plunging Nigeria into religious crisis if not checked .

    The Christian group also called on the international community to see the heinous act of forceful conversion of the schoolgirls to Islam against their wishes as war crime, and ensure the perpetrators are brought to book.

    The statement read in parts, “The abduction of the innocent schoolgirls is a crime condemnable by all but more criminal is their forceful conversion to a strange religion contrary to their faith.

    “Even God does not compel anyone to repent, repentance has always been by choice, and anyone who claims God has commanded him to make converts by force is suffering from religious malady”.

    Abia PFN however expressed faith in the on- going efforts by the Federal Government in partnership with some foreign assistance to rescue the girls, however, called on Christians all over the country not to relent in prayers until  the girls are released.

    The Christian body vowed to persist in prayers until the abducted girls are rescued and returned to their families.

    It also assured Christians in the northern parts of the country who are often targets of Boko Haram of the continued prayers of the church to bring their ordeal to an end.

  • Why we should swap the chibok girls

    As this piece is published, the over 200 girls, kidnapped from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, may have been in the custody of the Boko Haram elements, for 43 days. That is an awfully long time to be among a gang of rapists, arsonists, brigands, looters, murderers, religious extremists and what have you. Unless by the special grace of God, most, if not all the girls would have been grievously defiled or molested, one way or another. So, if truly the hoodlums have offered to have their wives and children detained by the federal government, swapped in exchange for the Chibok girls, then Nigeria should accede to that request, without delay.

    After all, if the wives and children of the bandits are in detention, then they are most likely in protective custody of the federal government. For while their husbands or fathers are clearly despicable elements, because of their criminal conducts, the women and children can only become accomplices if they aided and abetted them in the commission of crime. Indeed, the mere fact that they are the spouses or children of this band of marauders can not make them legitimate detainees, except their individual conducts warranted that. So let’s swap their women and children for our girls.

    It is however my hope, that while in the custody of our government, unlike when they were under the control of their husbands or fathers, that, we have had the opportunity to teach them about the sanctity of human lives. I hope, that, while their husbands or fathers were forcefully converting the Christians among the Chibok girls to Muslims, that the security officials have all this while, allowed them to freely practice their religion. I also wish that while the bandits they have been co-habiting with as husbands or fathers were threatening to sell off the Chibok girls into slavery, our security agencies were able to make provisions for the children among them, to go to school to acquire education.

    Indeed, it is my wish that if we had anticipated this perverted offer from Boko Haram, to exchange our innocents for their peculiar type, then we have had our opportunity to train some of them, as undercover agents to re-indoctrinate these criminals. For while in the state custody, it is possible to gain the confidence of these women and children, whose husbands or fathers have become criminals, to begin to see them for truly who they are. I hope that while in state custody, their innocents, especially their children, have been exposed to the contemporary musical lyrics of Flavour, Ice Prince, Tuface, D’bang and others. I hope they had the opportunity, while in our custody to play games, watch cartoons, and eat ice creams, rice, chicken and plantain. I hope they were shown the documentaries on Malala Yusuf of Pakistan, and also the television recordings of the several bombings and the anguish and pains caused by the incendiary actions of their husbands or parents and their comrades in trade elsewhere. Such expose, would have trained them to re-train their bandit husbands or fathers.

    But beyound getting our Chibok girls back, there is the urgent need to reinvigorate the fight against Boko Haram and other putative insurgency in our country, through other means. While fighting to win this current war, we need as a country to reappraise the structure and philosophy of our nationhood, if we want to avoid ‘a country of war without end’. That explained the need for a national conference; for many believe that the festering uprisings across Nigeria, and the obvious difficulty in subduing them, are mutations of the structural deficiencies in our country. The recent spat between the Hausa-Fulani oligarchists and the Yoruba autonomists underscores this urgency. For the country as presently structured and governed, is untenable.

    But while we seek the enduring solution to the challenges of our nationhood, through dialogue, those in positions of authority must at least attempt to exhibit some semblance of good governance. I consider it a big shame that while we are contending with treating the victims of the Boko Haram’s last week’s twin bomb attacks in Jos, we are also forced to worry about the victims of cholera outbreak, in the same city. So while Boko Haram criminals bear unequivocal responsibility for the victims of bomb attacks, Governor Jonah Jang and other relevant administrative officials of the state bear unequivocal responsibility for the victims of cholera outbreaks. So, while reporting the death caused by Boko Haram, we should also report the death caused by the failure of Governor Jang and his officials to provide clean water and enforce basic sanitation in the state.

    To show how thoroughly alienated Governor Jang and most of his co-travelers across the country are from their primary responsibility, the Governor was reported to have blamed the market officials for not noticing the strange vehicles that bore the improvised explosive devices, which killed over 100 persons in Jos. Yet, even as the Boko Haram murderers ravage our country, no state or local government, to my knowledge, has taken the important step to expose their residents or even their public officials to basic security trainings. While we mourn our losses, I guess it is time that we mobilize the citizens to understand basic security tips and how to react to an emergency.

    So, while the #Bringbackourgirls campaigners are working very hard to keep the lethargic government of President Goodluck Jonathan on its toes, it may consider adding the further demand of training Nigerians on basic security tips, as an urgent necessity. As the Jos bombing and the foiled attempts in Kano have shown, the Boko Haram elements are not merely contended with keeping in custody, our girls from Chibok.

     

  • We’ve located abducted girls – CDS

    Almost six weeks after their abduction, the military has located where the female students of Government Girls’ Secondary School, Chibok, are.

    This was disclosed on Monday by the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Air Marshal Alex Badeh while discussing with members of the Citizens Initiative for Security Awareness outside the Defence Headquarters, Abuja.

    The CDS however said the military has refused to employ force to release the girls so that they would not be killed by their abductors.

    “We want our girls back, we want our girls back; we can do it, our military can do it but where they are held, can we go with force?

    “If we go with force, what will happen? (they will kill them). So nobody should come and say the Nigerian military does not know what it is doing. We know what we are doing, we can’t go and kill our girls in the name of trying to get them back. So we are working.

    “The good news for the girls is that we know where they are but we cannot tell you, we cannot come and tell you military secrets here. Just leave us alone, we are working, we would get the girls back.”

  • Abducted girls won’t be swapped with terrorists – Jonathan

    Abducted girls won’t be swapped with terrorists – Jonathan

    President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday insisted that government will not negotiate with Boko Haram for the release of the abducted girls, saying they must be released unconditionally.

    The President, who spoke in Abuja through his Senior Special Assistant on Youth and Students Matter, Comrade Jude Imagwe, commended the resolute spirit of Nigerians in the face of the insurgency, saying Nigerians have won the fight against terrorism with their resolute spirit.

    He urged the people to support government’s efforts to bring back the girls.

    “We must rise up to tell them (terrorists) that they cannot win us. They must release our sisters back to us unconditionally. Nigerians must join hands with the government to encourage our security agents to find the girls and bring them back to us. The terrorists have declared war against the citizens of Nigeria and we must rise up as one people to fight and win back our country.

    “Our security men are working, their mission is to ensure that Nigeria is a safe place and what Nigerians should do this time is to pray for them and support them,” he said.

    President Jonathan said Nigerians must stop the blame game and the pull down syndrome which is distracting the fight against the insurgents.

     

  • We’ve made tremendous progress on abducted girls – Committee

    The Presidential Fact-Finding Committee on the abducted Chibok schoolgirls has made tremendous progress, the committee has said.

    Its spokesperson, Mr. Kingsley Osadolor, said in a statement that the committee had gathered information on the schoolgirls and insurgency but that specific details could not be given yet.

    “In the course of its mission to Borno, the fact-finding committee amassed a treasure trove of information on the abduction of the schoolgirls and insurgency in general.’’

    According to him, the committee had returned to Abuja to put together all the information gathered, after which members would return to Borno shortly.

    “Furthermore, the committee still needs to streamline and corroborate the welter of facts it has unearthed.

    “Sources for the streamlining are in the FCT, where the committee held the first in its series of consultations and interactions.

    “This has necessitated the Fact-Finding Committee returning to Abuja at this time,’’ the News Agency of Nigeria quoted Osadolor as saying in the statement.

    The committee spokesman also noted that the return trip to Borno would be to interface with the families and communities in Chibok.

    “The visit has not been undertaken at this time, because in the course of the interactions with stakeholders, pertinent issues arose, and these impact directly on aspects of the committee’s terms of reference.

    “This is to mobilise the surrounding communities and the general public on citizen support for a rescue strategy and operation and to articulate a framework for a multi-stakeholder action for the rescue of the missing girls.

    “The delayed visit to Chibok has been discussed with representatives of the communities’’, he said.

    Osadolor listed the groups and individuals the committee interfaced with to include the Shehu of Borno and military commanders.

    Others are heads of para-military formations, the state Commissioner of Police, and the state Director of the Department of Security Service.