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Tag: Chibok parents

  • God understands your anguish, Obasanjo tells Chibok parents

     Expresses confidence in Buhari to free remaining girls

    FORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday received some of the parents of the Chibok girls still held by Boko Haram terrorists since their abduction from the Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State in July 2014.

    The Chibok parents – comprising 17 women and 13 men- were in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, to plead with Obasanjo to prevail on the federal government and the International community to expedite action towards freeing their 112 daughters still in Boko Haram captivity.

    The meeting was facilitated by the Murtala Muhammed Foundation (MMF) as part efforts to reassure and counsel the families on the development.

    One of the leaders of delegation and Head of Operations of the Foundation, Mrs. Funmi Adesanya, said the visit was at the instance of the former President, who is also the Chairman of the Board of Murtala Muhammed Foundation.

    The ex-President, who received the distraught parents at the Green Legacy Resort within his Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) Abeokuta, expressed confidence in President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration’s ability to rescue the remaining girls.

    Citing Bible passages from John 16 verse 33 and James 1verse 2, he admonished the parents not to despair any longer, saying God who does no evil understands their plights and was capable of bringing them succour in no time.

    Obasanjo also reminded them as Christians, it should not be forgotten that they would experience tribulations and fiery trials in the world such as the one facing them for four years now.

    He said: “I want to share with you some of my own thought about the sovereignty of God and what He can do. He is all knowing, powerful and can do anything.

    “Whatever God allows to happen, He allows it for a good purpose to test our faith and it is in testing of our faith that our character is shaped and strengthened.

    “I understand how you feel now, I understand your pain and your anguish. God never does evil whatever happens is meant to strengthen and make us perfect,” he said.

    And reading the parents’ speech, one of them, Mr Yakubu Nkeki, appealed to Obasanjo to “ginger” the federal government and world leaders to bring their “daughters back from captivity.”

    Nkeki lamented that in about a month’s time, it would be four years 276 Chibok school girls were abducted, saying while 162 of them had been set free, 112 remained with the terrorist sect.

    “We call on national, regional and global influencers and authorities to support the Nigerian government to bring our nightmare to an end and to take measures so that we can send our remaining children to school with peace of mind, and give them an opportunity for a better future.

    “They say that it takes a village to raise a child; we call on our entire nation to pray for us and our daughters to work together with the government and use whatever contacts and resources you have to urgently bring our girls home safely.

    “We believe these peaceful voices will galvanise action by the government and political leaders to protect students, ensure Safe School policies are implemented, and assure access to education without fear of violence.”

     

  • No one is talking to us, Chibok parents cry out

    No one is talking to us, Chibok parents cry out

    Parents of  the 113 Chibok girls yet to return have complained  that they are ignored by governments.

    According to them, no one seems interested in briefing them about the fate of their daughters.

    An open letter to the President, signed by Mallun Nkeki, Yohanna Vanki and Mutah Ndirmbita, said: “Mr President, we write to express our feelings to you at this time.  While we appreciate you and your government for the negotiated release of our 21 girls, and another 82, we want to intimate you of our pains and disaffection, because it seems we are not being considered.

    “When the 21 girls were rescued, we begged to be part of the reunion, so we could hear about our daughters, but we were denied that opportunity. Again, when the 82 came home, we were so happy, knowing very well that we could meet them and hear about our daughters, even if dead, so we could bring this to closure, but we were denied the chance to meet them till today.

    “If there is any time we are so much worried about our girls then it is now, when we don’t seem to hear anything again from any official, be it our local leaders, state officials, or the Federal Government officials; no one is saying anything to us.

    “We have travelled to ask our local leaders to hear from them, but no one seems interested in briefing us about any effort or action, by the Federal Government, to secure the release of our daughters; we feel neglected. When the government promised to secure the girls’ release soon, we thought it won’t be long after the 82 girls were rescued, having seen how possible that was.

    “Right now, we are hopeless and more traumatised than before because it seems the successes recorded is now considered as a closure since no one is paying any attention to our grief.

    “We call on Mr President and his team to please expedite action and rescue the remaining girls for us to have closure on the Chibok girls, while we pray our fighting forces to end terrorism in our land.

    “We demand that the government talk to us and tell us exactly why the delays. We want to know the state of our daughters and when are they coming home. We want the government to deal directly with parents of the missing girls, let us know what next.

    “Do not stop us from meeting the rescued girls, we could hear words of comfort from our daughters through them, and to know whether they are alive or not, for us to know the next step. We have lost 20 of the parents; we don’t want to lose any one of us in this situation again.”

  • Chibok parents: Why we boycotted BBOG march

    Chibok parents: Why we boycotted BBOG march

    Parents of the missing Chibok girls have explained why they did not join the protest march that took place yesterday in Abuja.

    Yakubu Nkeki, the leader of the missing girls’ parents who lives in Chibok, told NAN in a telephone interview that parents of the abducted girls based in Chibok held a meeting last week during which they decided they would not attend.

    “All we want is our missing daughters and we are willing to work with anybody who will help us find our daughters,” he said, explaining that they did not want to antagonise the government which is in the best position to help them find their missing daughters.

    “We do not want to do anything that the government will not be happy about,” said the women leader of the group, Yana Galang.

    “We are not after any organisation that is against any party or religion, and we are supporting the federal government to help us release our girls,” she added.

    The parents described the unpleasant experience they had during their last protest march in Abuja, when angry comments made by some of the activists who accompanied them to see the president irritated President Muhammadu Buhari to the point where he spoke sharply and dropped his microphone.

    “Our own is that we want our daughters,” said Zannah Lawan, the secretary of the parents association.

    “Anyone who has the ability to help us to find our daughters is the person we will work with,” he said

  • ‎’Serah Luka not among 219 Chibok girls’

    The Chairman of the Chibok Girl’s Parents Association, Mr. Yakubu Nkeki‎, on Friday confirmed that the second Chibok girl rescued by the Nigerian Army is not one of the 219 Chibok girls abducted over two years ago by Boko Haram fighters.

    Nkeki, who said they are excited for Serah’s rescue because she like their daughters is a victim of Boko Haram, cautioned the military against rushing into conclusions without‎ first enquiring to be sure of the information they put in public domain.

    He said he has all the names, pictures and names of the abducted girls’ parents, insisting that Sarah is not one of them.

    NkekI, who spoke with our correspondent on telephone, said the military should have taken Serah to Chibok‎ or contact the Chibok community like the vigilantes did with Amina Ali before making the announcement.

    “I have checked my list, I have the list and pictures of all our girls including that of their parents‎ and Serah Luka is not one of them. The military really jumped into conclusion in assuming that she is one of our girls.

    “We are happy and excited about Serah’s rescue, including that of the others rescued with her because she is an innocent victim of Boko Haram just like our daughters. But the military need to verify next time just like the vigilantes did with Amina Ali before making the announcement that they have rescued one of our daughters,” he said.

  • ‘18 Chibok parents have died, others live with trauma’

    ‘18 Chibok parents have died, others live with trauma’

    Mr Hosea Tsambido is the Chairman of the Chibok Community in Abuja. He spoke with JIDE BABALOLA

    Two years after the abduction of Chibok girls, has anything been done about even their school?

    Nothing has been done. They actually started work at a time when a minister (Okonjo-Iweala) visited the place. Cement blocks that would be used to rebuild the classes and hostel have been moulded and they are there on ground. That is how things have been at that school for over one year ago. After moulding blocks, nothing has been done.

    Are members of the Chibok community satisfied with what the Federal Government has been able to say or do?

    No, not at all! We are not satisfied at all. They are supposed to at least, be interested in doing some development, some rebuilding of parts of the school and community.

    But are you satisfied with intelligence reports or government efforts towards the recovery of the abducted girls?

    We are not! We have not even seen or heard about even anything about even just one of the girls! If we do not hear any tiny bit of information about where these girls are or how they are, where will any form of satisfaction come from? There is no satisfaction at all. Rather, we are only getting more annoyed and more disappointed.

    Two years have passed without seeing the girls or identifying their wherabouts; what should be done next?

    Well, there is no option than to continue with what we are doing.

    To what extent would you say that the non-recovery of the Chibok girls has affected the health of their parents?

    It is surely affecting the health of many Chibok parents. I can confirm to you that at least, eighteen parents of these girls have died because of the stress and anxiety caused by the abduction.

    Besides the eighteen who have died, it has impacted very negatively on the health of many others. There have been many cases of heart attacks and other trauma-related diseases. Some have died and several are in really traumatic conditions as we speak right now.

    No one is assisting them in any way. I just don’t know; I can’t understand all these.

    We have just written a letter to government; we wrote a letter to them two weeks ago and we are still waiting for their response.

    Government and the military have been giving words of assurance while encouraging people to return to communities recovered from boko haram. What is your view about this?

    The truth is that it is still very difficult and too risky! How can they go back when Boko Haram people are still coming around? Boko haram still attacks along the roads. They have been attacking some villages. Yet, you are telling them to go back. Go back to what? When their houses are still being burnt? To go and sleep in the midst of ruins and ashes or what?

    So, do you personally think that it is still unsafe for people to go back to communities that have been recovered by our security forces?

    It is still unsafe to back o!

  • Chibok parents to Buhari: you can rescue our girls

    Chibok parents to Buhari: you can rescue our girls

    Kids, others march on Education ministry in Abuja

    It was a moving spectacle yesterday in Abuja.

    Kids in red shirts, holding numbered placards on which the names of the Chibok schoolgirls are boldly written, marching on the Ministry of Education.

    With them were some of the girls who escaped in the night of horror on April 14, last year when Boko Haram insurgents hussled the over 200 pupils off their dormitories into trucks and drove them away into captivity.

    The world was horrified; it still is —one year after.

    Parents of the Chibok Girls Secondary School, Borno State, girls yesterday said they were hoping President-elect Muhamadu Buhari would find their daughters.

    Gen Buhari will take office on May 29 and one of the burning issues he will inherit from the outgoing Dr. Goodluck Jonathan administration is the abduction.

    Yesterday, there were activities in Abuja, Lagos and in some other major capitals across the world to mark the anniversary of the abduction which attracted worldwide outrage, especially when Boko Haram claimed responsibility and showed a video of the girls in captivity with sect leader Abubakar Shekau saying he would sell them off.

    In Abuja, there were news conferences. In Lagos, Nobel laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka attended an event, where foremost economist Prof. Pat Utomi spoke.

    A representative of the girls’ parents, Rev. Mark Enoch, declared yesterday their faith in Gen. Buhari and his ability to rescue the 219 girls alive.

    He said things would be better because Gen. Buhari has the ability to destroy the Boko Haram sect like he destroyed the Maitasine Movement in 1984.

    Rev. Enoch spoke on behalf of Kibaku Area Development Association (KADA), the umbrella body of the Chibok community in Abuja. His address was titled: “One year commemoration of the abduction of #Chibokgirls: the unending agony of a community.”

    He said: “I know that as General Buhari is now the president-elect, things will be better. He can rescue our daughters, he can bring our daughters back home. He can end all the atrocities of the Boko Haram sect like he addressed the Maitasine movement in 1984 and our girls will return, so we the Chibok girls’ parents are excited.

    “I will like to appreciate Madam Oby Ezekwesilli and members of the #BringBackOurGirls advocacy. They are the Mandelas of our time.”

    KADA, in a statement signed by its National Secretary Battah Ndirpaya; National Publicity Secretary Dr. Manasseh Allen and Chairman KADA Abuja, Tsambido Hosea, said despite the gloomy picture of what is happening in their community before and after the abduction, they are still hopeful that the girls will come back home alive.

    They said: “After the abduction, Chibok area was attacked six times with resultant high causalities, including 11 of the parents and guardians of the abducted girls. The people of Chibok are today haunted, displaced, traumatised and living in agony as refugees or internally displaced persons all over Nigeria and refugees beyond. There is also a looming famine in the Chibok (Kibaku) community and environs as a result of the terrorism that has virtually crippled farming activities. Wanton destruction of food stuff, granaries and livestock was perpetrated by the insurgents. There was also poisoning or destruction of water wells, the primary source of water for the community.

    “Despite the gloomy picture of what is happening in the community, we are still hopeful that our girls will come back alive. We are hoping that Mr. President will keep his word by brining the girls back alive before leaving office on 29 May.. Even if he fails to achieve it, we are hopeful that the president-elect will bring back our girls alive.

    “In the abduction saga, it is true that the girls are the victims, the parents and guardians are suffering the agony, trauma and pains, but the embarrassment is that of the government and the people of Nigeria, while the military suffered humiliation. We urge all to come together and find a lasting solution to this saga so as to save our face as a country.”

    Members of the #BringBackOurGirls advocacy also said they appreciated Gen. Buhari for “his kind and soothing words” on the occasion of the one year commemoration and his promise to do everything to bring back the girls.

    The group demanded the safe return of the girls as a major engagement during the transition between the Jonathan and the Buhari administrations.

    The #BBOG described the Chibok girls as global symbols for the defence of the dignity and sanctity of human life, of the girl child, women, for those oppressed, repressed, disadvantaged, hurting and unsafe persons everywhere and they will continue to advocate for their return until everyone of the girl is accounted for.

    The group spoke at a news conference in Abuja to commemorate the one year anniversary of the abduction. The statement signed by Dr. Oby Ezekwesilli and Ms Hadiza Bala-Usman on behalf of the group, said:

    “Today, 14  April, 2015 is that dreadful day we never imagined will come without having  back our missing precious 219 Chibok schoolgirls, abducted exactly one year ago today.

    “Our #ChibokGirls are the global symbol for the defence of the dignity and sanctity of human life; of the girl a child, women, for all those oppressed, repressed, disadvantaged, hurting, unsafe persons everywhere. As long as they stay missing, it means nothing is as yet working. We must all prioritise their safe return.

    “We thank Nigeria’s president-elect for his kind and soothing words on the occasion of this one-year commemoration; wherein he promises, among other things, to do everything he can to #BringBackOurGirls when he becomes the president, if they are still alive. However, this does not address our concerns. We demand that the safe return of our girls be the top agenda of the transition between the present and the incoming one.

    “We have just concluded a march by #ChibokGirlsAmbassadors (part of the global schoolgirl march). We express our immense gratitude to our #ChibokGirlsAmbassadors for being the right voices to carry the message of their generational peers on a day like this.

    “We have been demanding for the last nearly one year but nothing is more remarkable than having peers of our missing schoolgirls carry out an exclusive activity for their cause. This is a generation that will grow with a well-developed sense of humanity, of standing for others, and also demanding accountability from their leaders. We also thank their parents and guardians for not only allowing, but encouraging them to participate. Your efforts in raising kind, caring as well as responsible girls shall never be in vain.”

    The group also reiterated and renewed their year-long demand to the United Nations, which states:

    “That the UN should, through its relevant agencies, deploy relevant instruments in ensuring the prompt rescue of our Chibok girls and other abductees, as well as improve the security situation in the country.

    “Escalate and process the request of the Chibok nation for the help of independent private investigators. Call on world leaders and other members of the international community to reactivate their support for the #BringBackOurGirls cause and push it back as a prioritised discourse because the only logical closure to this issue would be when our girls have been brought back and insurgency becomes a thing of the past.

    “We are a non-partisan civic movement and therefore shall continue to advocate and demand for justice for our 219 Chibok girls. Until our girls are rescued, our Movement will not stop. .”

    Members of the Chibok girls ambassadors and members of the #BBOG advocacy staged a peaceful protest to the Ministry of Education to demand for the release of the girls and demand to know what the ministry was doing to assist with the rescue efforts.

    Although the ministry locked them out for almost an hour, the children were later allowed into the premises. The ministry’s Director, Human Resources Management, Mohammed Umar, met with the group. The girls gave an ultimatum of May 29 to rescue the girls.

     

  • Purported meeting with Chibok parents was a PDP affair, says community

    Purported meeting with Chibok parents was a PDP affair, says community

    The  Chibok community in Borno State  yesterday disclaimed a meeting which the Federal Government said it had in Maiduguri on Thursday with parents of the over 200 schoolgirls abducted last year by Boko Haram.

    The National Publicity Director of  KIBAKU Area Development Association ,Dr. Allen Mannaseh, an  organization representing the Kibaku (Chibok People) dismissed the purported meeting as a scam.

    Dr. Mannaseh who was reacting to a press  statement issued by Olawale Rasheed,   Special Adviser to the Minister of State  Power,Alhaji Mohammed Wakil  that a closed door meeting was held with some relations and parents of the Chibok girls, disassociated the Chibok parents from that meeting.

    The Kibaku spokesman said that it there was any meeting at all  it must have been a  political gathering of PDP members which was not in any way representative of the Chibok community.

    Manasseh said the people of Chibok are angry with  Wakil for his alleged lack of concern for the community even after first electing him as their Representative in the National Assembly.

    He said: “There was no close door meeting with any of the Chibok girls’ parents in Maiduguri.  That is one.

    “Two, the Chibok people are very angry with Barr. Mohammed Wakil.  For all that has been happening in Chibok, he has never been to Chibok for ages. He was a member representing Chibok/Damboa/Gwoza  and a minority leader for that matter.

    “ He has never been to Chibok up till    today that he is a minister. He is being used by the Federal Government against our own wish. He has shown that he is not representing any of us either as a member House of Representative then or as a minister now.

    “Since the Chibok adoption, Mohamed Wakil has never, even through the media, made any statement about the Chibok girls. Is it now that he knows that Chibok girls are missing? We are angry with him. If he wants to talk with the Chibok girls parents then he should go to Chibok. Chibok girls’ parents are not in Maiduguri. I know the people that spoke with him before he convened that meeting in Maiduguri. There was never a meeting with Chibok girls’ parents in Maiduguri. It was purely a political meeting and PDP affairs.

    “He met with women from Damboa earlier on and then people complained that Chibok, Gwoza too were your direct constituency when you were in House of Representatives, why can’t you meet with the IDPs and the women that have relocated from Chibok  to Maiduguri as well. That was when he called women from Chibok that are now in Maiduguri.

    “For the records, some of the women have been in Maiduguri not because of the insurgency and these are people that have political ambitions. The whole meeting was a scam. I don’t want to believe what happened was a meeting with the parents of the Chibok girls. We are angry with Mohamed Wakil coming out on behalf of the Federal Government. It is a lie because I have contacted everybody in Abuja about the issue.

    Referring to  one Mrs Pindar Dauda said to have spoken on behalf of the Chibok community at the meeting, Mannaseh said; “I know Mrs Pindar Dauda. These are people that have political inclination and she is not representing any Chibok parent. If at all she is associated with any of the Chibok parents, she is speaking for herself  and on personal ground.

    “She cannot speak for the Chibok Girls parents because the Chibok Girls Parents have an organized setting with a Chairman and Secretary that coordinate their activities. If there is going to be a meeting for the Chibok girls’ parents then all of us will be notified and then we will know how to get the parents and get them in one place. Chibok Girls Parents are not staying in Maiduguri, so Wakil should stop  deceiving Nigerians,” Dr. Mannaseh said.

    Mannaseh however  acknowledged the presence in the town on Thursday of Finance Minister Ngonzi Okonjo-Iweala to lay the foundation stone of the Safe School Initiative at Chibok on behalf of the federal government.

    “What impressed us in that occasion is that she refused to carry any political party to come and display in Chibok.  According to her, she was simply in Chibok because the community deserves attention,” Manasseh said.

  • ‘Chibok parents ready to sacrifice their girls to end terrorism’

    ‘Chibok parents ready to sacrifice their girls to end terrorism’

    Parents of the abducted Chibok girls have told President Jonathan and the Nigerian Army to go ahead and end Boko Haram, even if it endangers the lives of the girls.

    They said they are ready to turn their daughters into sacrificial lambs, if it will end insurgency and the terror that Boko Haram has being carrying out.

    Four months after the captivity of their daughters, the parents are now ready for the military to invade the Sambisa forest no matter the outcome.

    Chairman of the Chibok community in Abuja, Hosea Tsambido, stated that he had been in contact with the parents who had given up hope of their daughters returning alive and are only asking that the government return with their bodies so that they can be given proper burial.

    He stated this in Abuja  during the protest by members of the BringBackOurGirls the movement to mark 130 days after over 200 girls were abducted from the Government Girls’ Secondary School, Chibok.

    Tsambido stated that the Chibok culture requires parents and family members of missing persons to bury their loved ones, if they have been missing for over four months, adding that after three to four months the  families must perform the burial ritual and assume that the persons are dead to enable them move on with their lives.

    His words: “Culturally in our area, when our child or a person is missing for three to four months and you do not hear anything about the person, we will arrange for the burial ceremony and to take it as if the person is dead and we will perform the burial ritual and forget about the person and try to forge ahead with life.

    “Now the parents are saying that it is better for them to bring the girls back, even if it means the corpses so that they will bury them properly.

    “Let the girls be the sacrificial lambs, that is what they told me. I` spoke with them last night on the issue and their opinion is that the  army should go into Sambisa. If some of the girls are saved, die or abscond, so be it than all this trauma that the parents are going through right now.

    “They are saying that let the government go into the forest and bring back the corpses of the children so that they can bury them properly.

    Leader of the movement, Oby Ezekwesili, has asked the government to tell the group and Nigerians what is being done to rescue the girls after 130 days.

    Her words: “This is 130 days after they were abducted and we are no where closer as to knowing the fate of those girls and having any information on their rescue.

    “The challenge that we have is the fact that we are told that a rescue operation is going on but when you connect the dots in the statements that are made, it leaves you within the logical frame without any precise sense of a rescue operation because in the case of abduction, what we know around the world is that people try to rescue through a military operation or they try to rescue through negotiation and and they try to sometimes have a mix of those two options.

    “Each time that we have listened to statements from government, including from the President, it has seemed to dismiss any of these options and so that leaves us asking, what exactly is going on 130 days since these girls were abducted.