The Nation Newspaper

Tag: DAPCHI Girls

  • Mama Boko Haram begs Al -Barnawi to release abducted Dapchi girls

    Mama Boko Haram begs Al -Barnawi to release abducted Dapchi girls

    A former member of Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North, Barr. Aisha Alkali Wakil (a.ka. Mama Boko Haram) on Tuesday asked the Abu Musab Al-Barnawi-led faction of Boko Haram to release the 110 girls abducted from the Government Girls’ Science Technical College, Dapchi.

    Wakil’s appeal followed fresh lead that the Al-Barnawi faction had been operating along Yobe State axis and might have abducted the girls.

    Al-Barnawi (named Habib at birth) was said to be the son of the late founder of Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihād (now known as Boko Haram), Mohammed Yusuf, who was killed in police custody on July 30, 2009.

    Following irreconcilable differences on Boko Haram’s modus operandi, Al-Barnawi parted ways with the sect.

    But Wakil, a North-East human rights activist with strong links with Boko Haram, spoke with PRNigeria in Maiduguri, Borno State, and urged Al-Barnawi to spare the girls.

    According to PRNigeria, the activist who cried profoundly said:  “This thing that is happening, is really breaking my heart. These children don’t even know what they are doing. Some of them were not even born at the time this thing started.

    “Wallahi I will go after them, even if it will take my life to save these girls. They call me Mummy, but they don’t listen to me.

    “I keep on talking to them, begging them to lay down their arms and embrace peace but they will say ‘Insha-Allah mummy we are going to stop.’ Sometimes they will say they are scared they are going to be killed but I will tell them nobody is going to kill you.”

    “I heard you are now being called ‘Abu Mussad Al-Barnawi’ but I know you as Habib and I am begging you to stop the killing and abduction.

    “I have sent many messages to you. I don’t know if you are getting these messages or you just chose to continue to hurt your mother and make her cry.

    “Dear Habib, Nuru and others, I was told you may be the ones responsible for the kidnap of these girls. Where ever you may be if you are listening to me, I beg you in the name of Allah to release the girls back to their families.

    “What type of children will continue letting their mother to continue crying. Dear Habib, I pray Allah touches your heart and that of your colleagues to stop what you are doing. “

    She pleaded with Al-Barnawi to come out and lay down his arms alongside his members.

    She added: “Please come out. I will never deny you even if the whole world did. Those who know you know your heart. They know you are no longer interested in the fight anymore.

    “I will hold all of you and wrap you with my wrapper and bring you out and no one is going to shoot you. If they will shoot you, they will have to shoot me first. I don’t mind sacrificing my life if you will stop what you are doing.  If I die to stop Boko Haram, I know I will go to paradise.”

    The PRNigeria said the female “activist was reported to have helped in the circumcision of some kids over two decades ago who later became Boko Haram members. Her relationship with the sect members earned her the name ‘Mama Boko Haram.’

    “Disturbed about the latest abduction of 110 students of Government Girls Technical College Dapchi, Aisha has renewed her commitment to help end the Boko Haram insurgency.

    “Respected by many in her community, Wakil has been actively involved in efforts to end Boko Haram through her NGO “Complete Care and Aid Foundation” aimed at restoring peace to the North East by rehabilitating the youth against warped ideologies that mislead them to join the terror group.

  • Dapchi Girls: Stop the blame game, Dogara tells Army, Police

    Dapchi Girls: Stop the blame game, Dogara tells Army, Police

    Speaker of House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara, on Tuesday, asked security agencies to take responsibility for failing to stop the abduction of 110 schoolgirls in Dapchi, Yobe, on Feb. 19.

    He said that the buck-passing between the Nigerian Army and the Nigeria Police Force was unacceptable.

    In a statement by Mr Turaki Hassan, his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Dogara said rather than trading blames, the security agencies should strengthen inter-agency collaboration towards rescuing the girls.

    He said that the statements credited to the Army and the Police in which they tried to exonerate themselves from any culpability in the unfortunate abduction of the girls from their school were highly condemnable.

    “This is unacceptable and the House of Representatives, and indeed Nigerians, will hold the security agencies responsible. They all bear responsibility for this unfortunate incident.

    “The traumatic experience of the Chibok abduction which is still fresh in our minds should have served as a warning signal to security agencies to provide adequate protection to all schools in the North-East.

    “I want to use this medium to console the parents of the abducted girls and the entire Dapchi community over this unfortunate incident.

    “I also urge all Nigerians and people of goodwill from all over to pray for the safe return of the girls,” Dogara said.

  • Coalition blasts Yobe Govt Over DAPCHI Girls

    Nigeria’s leading anti-terrorism campaigner, the Coalition Against Terrorism and Extremism, CATE, has condemned the recent comment by the Yobe State Government which blamed the recent abduction of School girls in Dapchi, Yobe State on the withdrawal of troops from the area.

    National President of the group, Comrade Gabriel Onoja in a press statement said it is disingenuous of the Yobe State Government to try to blame the same institution that rescued the state from the grip of terrorism at the slightest instance saying it amounts to ingratitude to try and play politics with an issue as important as security.

    The group said rather than acknowledge the tremendous contributions of the military in securing the state and even the Yobe Government House which at a time was overtaken by the insurgents, the Yobe State Government is trying to give the impression that it has no role to play on the provision of security and that whatever lapses that may have occurred falls squarely on the shoulders of the military.
    The group said this is most unkind to an institution which has lost hundreds of its men and officers and whose personnel have sacrificed their comfort and that of their family to secure the state.

    Onoja said it is on record that the military went into Yobe and other surrounding states and freed territories and local government hitherto captured by the insurgents and set many captives free and ensured that normalcyreturned to several other communities.

    He said the Yobe State Government and the civil authorities should have taken over from there to ensure security and enforcement of the law as there is no way the military can remain at a place continuously while its attention is needed in other areas that may be facing fresh threats.

    The group said if the state and local government authorities as well as the police and other security agencies had moved to the communities to ensure law and order as well focus on intelligence gathering, the incident at Dapchi would not have occurred.
    The group insisted that the successes of the Buhari’s administration on terrorism cannot easily be dwarfed by any individual or group of persons who may have sworn to make political capital from every situation irrespective of the pains and sorrows that may cause those involved.

    The Coalition said attempts by some politicians to blame the Nigerian Army for withdrawal of troops from the area
    is most unfortunate and an attempt by some blind elements to downplay the achievements of the militray despite glaring evidence.
    “Those working for their pay masters for Nigeria to fail have seen another fault line in the abduction of ladies girls from DAPCHI to blame the security agencies and lower the moral of troops. This we must consciously reject to prove our humanity to the world that our love song for the military in recent times was not an act of sycophancy but rather borne out of genuine hearts

    The group further warned that some stakeholders have jumped into conclusion even when no one has taken responsibly for this pure act of political sabotage to reduce the efforts of the administration.

    CATE said whilst it’s unwise to jump into conclusion that Yobe politicians might be behind the abduction of the girls, it warned that Nigerians have never trusted any politician from the north-east as far as Boko Haram is concerned as they have refused to take any reasonable step in the past to address the Boko Haram issue as an ideology and fallout of a failed political set-up in the Nigeria.

    The group therefore charged all Nigerians not to judge the war against Boko Haram with sentiments but clear reflection on the immediate past before 2015 and the current situation that has seen Boko Haram taking flight before our military.