Tag: Chibok
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Photo: Olukolade visits Yola and Maiduguri
From Left: Detachment commander mi 35 helicopter, Air Cdre Remi Ekeh; commander, 75 strike group, Nigerian Air Force Yola, Air Cdre Emma Anebi and director of defence information, Brig.-Gen. Chris Olukolade during the visit of the director to Yola and Maiduguri on Thursday -
Photo: Surveillance on Chibok
Director, Defence Information, Brig.-Gen. Chris Olukolade (3rd-L) after a surveillance on Chibok on Thursday. -
Jonathan had no plan to visit Chibok – Presidency
The Presidency yesterday denied any plan for President Goodluck Jonathan to visit Chibok, Borno State yesterday.
Over 200 secondary school girls were abducted by terrorist in Chibok over a month ago.
According to Twitter account of the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati on Friday, the was not scheduled to visit Chibok as widely reported yesterday.
He described the reports as rumours, wrong and maliciousness to allege that a “non-existent trip has been cancelled.”
He said: “Every trip by the President is usually pre-announced. The Presidency did not at any time announce a trip to Chibok today (Friday). Ignore rumours.”
He explained that the statement issued by my office on Thursday only indicated that the President was scheduled to travel to Paris yesterday.
“It is therefore wrong and malicious to allege that a non-existent trip has been cancelled.” He stated
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Jonathan cancels Chibok visit
President Goodluck Jonathan has called off a visit to the town where more than 200 schoolgirls were abducted, officials said.
Sources had told the BBC he would stop in Chibok, in Borno State, on his way to a conference in France where strategies to tackle the Boko Haram threat would be discussed.
But the visit was called off for security reasons, the officials said.
The President – under pressure over his government’s failure to rescue the girls – will fly direct to Paris.
The BBC says the cancellation of this visit underlines just how fragile the security situation is in the north-east.
On Thursday, the girls’ relatives called for their unconditional release by Boko Haram.
Jonathan is said to have ruled out negotiations over a possible release of prisoners.
Nothing was seen of the girls for almost a month after they were taken from Chibok.
But on Monday the group released a video showing more than 100 of them and offering an exchange for prisoners.
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Jonathan to visit Chibok today
PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan will today visit Chibok, Borno State where over 200 schoolgirls were abducted over a month ago by Boko Haram. The girls were kidnapped on April 15.
It will be Jonathan’s first visit to Chibok since the kidnappings. He will later in the day travel to Paris for a regional security summit.
Jonathan is under pressure to crush the rebels, who have killed thousands in their campaign for an Islamist state, and to free the girls, whose kidnapping has sparked global outrage.
The president has come under criticism for its slow response to the abductions.
Jonathan asked France last week to arrange a Paris security summit with neighbours Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin, and officials from the U.S., Britain and the European Union to discuss a coordinated response.
The summit is convened by President Francois Hollande to discuss fresh strategies for dealing with the security threat posed by Boko Haram and other terrorist groups in West and Central Africa.
According to a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, the President will be joined at the summit by Heads of State and Government of Benin Republic, Cameroon, Niger and Chad.
It reads: “It is also expected that Britain, the United States of America and the European Union will be represented at the talks which will give special attention to the coordination and intensification of efforts to curtail the destabilizing activities of Boko Haram in Nigeria and neighbouring countries in the wake of the recent abduction of college girls from Chibok, Borno State.”
He will be accompanied to France by the Minister of Defence, Lt-Gen. Aliyu Gusau (rtd.), the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd.) and other principal aides and advisers,
Jonathan will return to Abuja at the conclusion of the summit on Saturday.
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Our Chibok epiphany
Would Chibok be Nigeria’s epiphany? Is this our moment of illumination? What would this violent de-flowering of Nigeria by this Chibok phenomenon portend for us all? What auguries would it herald? What on earth is Chibok? What is her metaphysics? Where on earth is Chibok? You may never find it on any map; hardly more than a few hundred people had heard about Chibok before April 15, the day Boko Haram terrorist invaded a girls’ school in Chibok in the dead of night and herded away over 200 teenage girls. Since then and as each day dawned, Chibok, a small town in the eastern-most end of Borno State, northeast of Nigeria, near the Cameroun border has become a cause célèbre for the people of the world.
The Chibok anthologies: Chibok literally caught fire before our eyes. More than 30 days on as confusion reigned over the number and whereabouts of the abducted Chibok girls, the entire world is roused as one in strident demand for their rescue. The world went Chiboky, so to speak, thanks to Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili and others who launched the #Bringbackourgirls protests in rain and in shine; the peoples of the world have never been united on any single issue like this for a long time. Chibok took a global life of its own becoming an anthology of tales. Let us review some of the themes:
Chibok unfrocked: Chibok is an unmapped little place near the far, right hand end on Nigeria’s map; near the verdant tropical forests that spreads wildly into the Cameroun mountains. Did you ever think such a place would be the abode of such a well-appointed, all-girls school with such large number of students who are predominantly Christians? If Chibok graduates over 200 high school girls, imagine the total number of teenagers Nigeria churns out from secondary schools nationwide yearly? Does that say something about the latent greatness of this enclave called Nigeria? Marvel at how a modicum of quality leadership could transform this country into a global powerhouse in a very short time. Why don’t we elect to discover the little Chiboks in our small towns and villages and build them into international brands? But not by default as Borno’s Chibok has turned out but by careful planning and painstaking execution.
Chibok as a de-mystifier: Chibok also unfrocked the presidency and exposed its huge, bare backside to a bewildered world; prompting the world to dash down to Nigeria in a rush, seeking to cover our nakedness. Chibok is the shame of the modern world, a testimony of how a country could fall on its face and break to pieces in a twinkle of an eye if the world did not move to steady it. A band of miscreants was on the verge of hijacking the sovereignty of a big, bumbling country but for the world community. Who could tell what might have been in another fortnight had Nigeria been left to her wiles – an implosion?
It is a cliffhanger of an irony that Chibok is Nigeria’s new day shame and her saving grace: had the Chibok girls not been taken, Nigeria would have continued to trudge inexorably down the cliff; she was indeed poised to drift to her utter destruction. This abduction must be a divine act in our sovereignty script in which some foreign powers would para-shoot into the country and save us from local thugs hard on gunning down our nationhood. Now that the U.S., U.K., France, China, Israel (and who else?) is here to chase back the dusty insurgents, it plays up another sweet irony: to the effect that you have to be deflowered in order to begin to enjoy sex. Foreign military/security experts are foraging our land and turning us inside out so that we may live.
Even one month after the Chibok quagmire, a pusillanimous presidency has continued to lumber; suffused in utter confusion and lethargy, there was no deterrence to attacks just as there was no urgent pursuit of hoodlums. And no apparent coordinated intelligence trail in the wake of the abduction. Up until recently, the president was on national television appealing to parents of the girls to help government find the abductors. Not to be left out of the drama, the wife of the president plebified a national calamity with her comical performance also on national television. To think that no formal bilateral alliances were forged all these years of Boko Haram torment; to think that the National Security Adviser (NSA) was reportedly paying millions of dollars to some phony U.S. lobbyist trying to reach the White House through the back door…Chibok as waterloo and epiphany: Not even the Boko Haram insurgents will be the same again after Chibok. As at last Monday, they were already raising a white flag. For the first time since they took this path of madness, they have initiated a peace deal seeking to swap prisoners for the abductees.
As the whole world encircles them, they must have realised that evil has no hiding place when there is a concert of efforts by the good. Now that we are at it, we must totally rid ourselves of these irritants, these fiends from hell.
We must reclaim our country from James Town in Akwa-Ibom to Bosso on the north-most tip of Borno; from Badagry in Lagos to Birnin-Konni in Sokoto. We must regroup. It is salutary that prominent northern voices like Mohammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida and the Sultan of Sokoto, who had hitherto been squeamish and un-resolute in condemning the rascals, are speaking up. We must seize the momentum of the current upwelling of support from the world to work out our rebirth. We must ensure that this foreign intervention is a clean-and-go effort. Most important, and more threatening than Boko Haram, we must resolve our urgent and present 2015 political logjam. We may yet forge a formidable black nation if we imbibe this Chibok spirit. We just might find our rebirth, our epiphany…after we have brought back the girls.
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Chibok: Jonathan gets protesters’ ultimatum
Protesters of the April 14 abduction of over 200 female students of the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, have given President Goodluck Jonathan until Monday to address them or face a mega march to the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
They also vowed to mobilize other protesters from all states of the federation for the rally, designed to ensure the girls’ release from the Boko Haram stranglehold.
The protesters in a letter to President Jonathan, demanded that he should address them within 48 hours.
The former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili , while speaking in Abuja, said the protest against the abduction is a way of fixing the government’s mess.
She said, “This is a whole new exercise of Nigerians coming together to demand for accountability.
“We are still waiting for the President’s response concerning the letter we have written to him. We will give him 48 hours to see if there will be a response.
“If the response does not come within 48 hours, then we will be forced to march up to him at the Villa.”
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Royal fathers at Aso Rock, decry Chibok abduction
Some traditional rulers from the oil producing communities visited President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Thursday to discuss current situations in the country.
During the closed door meeting, they expressed worries over the abduction of schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State and the escalating activities of Boko Haram in the country.
The leader of the delegation and paramount ruler of Mgbirichi/Abakuru Land of Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State, HRH Eze Akunueze Raphael Eze Ahurunkwe II, spoke with State House correspondents at the end of the meeting.
He said: “This is a solidarity visit to the President and discuss some issues affecting our nation.”
“Of course, we are worried about the issue of Chibok girls and the activities of Boko Haram in general. We are very prayerful that Mr. President, as he has been working assiduously to make sure they are released. We are very prayerful.”
According to him, the delegation thanked Jonathan for convening the national conference and developing infrastructure across the nation.
The issues of oil bunkering and pipeline vandalisation, he said, were also raised at the meeting.
“Of course, there are pipelines are in our domains and that is why we are advocating a forum so that the traditional rulers in the oil communities will be empowered to provide security against illegal bunkering and pipeline vandalisation,” the monarch stated.
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Why educate our girls – The Chibok Family
Zuriel Prime Minster of St Vincent & The Grenadines If to Educate means to give ‘Intellectual’ and ‘Moral’ instructions to someone, usually a child, then it is the responsibility of the society in which such children live to ensure their future generation are indeed, well educated, as a strategic tool of sustaining their economic and social security, for generations unborn. Many years ago, the United States was seen as the bedrock of intellectual education and the beacon of business and economic literacy to the rest of the world.
The last decade has seen an obvious shift of that trend, eastwards as more of the current generation of youths and children are, for the first time, open to the same technology platform as their counterparts in the West, but particularly the United States. As telecommunications frontiers has opened up, broadband makes for instant video calls across thousands of miles and across oceans, while the lightning speed fingers of Asian and African kids means talking to, contacting, sharing music with, or writing programs with their friends and relatives civilizations away in the US and Europe are just seconds, greetings, and perhaps a smile away these days.
Young boys and girls are a ready army into this very exciting trend and phenomena. They have become bolder than their parents’ generation, more inquisitive than their older siblings, and even more daring that those who led just barely 24 hours earlier.
One such child is a young Nigerian Girl – 11 Year Old Zuriel Oduwole. There is nothing special about her. She plays, has dreams, does house chores, runs errands for her parents, fights with her younger sister occasionally, rides her bicycle, plays video games, except that on the side, she bothers and interviews world leaders about the need to expand Girls Education in Africa, and also makes documentaries to tell her African story. Zuriel has met with and interviewed 1 in 6 of Africa’s Presidents and Prime Ministers, has been featured in global magazines like Forbes, and appeared on global TV networks like the BBC. She held a first Lady’s Colloquy last month in Nigeria to find practical solutions to the issue of Girls’ Education, and one day, hopes to be President.
There is nothing special about what Zuriel is doing, or perhaps maybe there is. But the definitive issue is she is educated and is still being educated, at age 11. That is what the girls in Chibok Secondary school were doing – getting an education, before they were taken away against their will. They were very much in line with what Zuriel is fighting for – the continued education of the African Girl Child.
Nigeria’s economy is for all practical purposes, in the hands of [2] women – the minister of finance, and the minister of petroleum. They are both very educated, and they were once the ages of Zuriel, and the Chibok Girls. They had dreams, and are perhaps living their dreams as key figures in the Nigerian Government.
Zuriel and Prime Minister of St Kitts & Nevis Zuriel has now added more leaders to her list of very impressive interviewees, which now includes the Prime Minister of St Vincent & The Grenadines – The Honorable Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, and the Prime Minister of St Kitts & Nevis – The Right Honorable Dr. Denzil Douglas. She is making the case for educating the Girls in the Caribbean region, having a few months ago already sat down with the Prime Minister of Jamaica – The Right Honorable Portia Simpson Miller. But how can she hold court with world leaders and global business leaders such as Aliko Dangote whom she has also interviewed, if she was not educated.
Let’s Educate our Girls, lets release ALL of Nigeria’s potentials. There are many Zuriel’s out there, waiting to lift the country to its fullest potential. For the sake of the hurting parents and their families, lets secure the release of the Chibok school girls, so they can contribute to the full development of the emerging African brand, called Nigeria.
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Jonathan overwhelmed by Boko Haram – Obasanjo
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Wednesday said President Goodluck Jonathan is overwhelmed by the Boko Haram insurgency.
The former president, who spoke in Nairobi, Kenya, said he took it upon himself in 2011 to go on a fact finding mission when the insurgency became uncontrollable to see how to mediate.
“I met people especially families who knew them. I wanted to find out if it was an organization which has aims and objectives and if they have a foreign backing,” he stated.
He said the group has leaders, adding that there was somebody who acted in proxy as a lawyer to the sect.
“The lawyer who was acting in proxy told me that Mr. President if you want to meet their leaders give me three hours. I will gather their leaders, not in Nigeria but outside Nigeria. Obviously they have leaders,” Obasanjo said.
When asked if carrot and stick approach will work in dealing with the sect, he said: “Well, if you had tried stick and stick alone and has not worked, is there anything wrong to try something along with the stick?
“I doubt it very much if you will consider that as wrong because in your introductory statement in this programme, you made the point that no matter how well meaning the President might have been his assertion that he will be on top of Boko Haram has not been achieved,” the former president said rhetorically.
Human rights activist, Shehu Sanni, said Boko Haram is a sect that has a theocratic agenda.
Sanni said the sect is unlike others in the north, adding: “There are sects in the north that say Nigeria should adopt Islam but they are not as fundamental.”
He said the use of force has not been able to yield any result.
He cautioned the Federal Government to get the girls out first before using force to subdue the sect.
