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Tag: Oby Ezekwesili

  • I pray report of release of 80 Chibok girls is true- #BBOG leader Ezekwesili

    I pray report of release of 80 Chibok girls is true- #BBOG leader Ezekwesili

    Leader of the Bring Back Our Girls campaign group, Dr Oby Ezekwesili says she is praying hard that reports of the release of 80 Chibok girls by Boko Haram group is true.

    ” You CAN’T imagine how HARD my heart is beating right now as I furiously PRAY that this news of release of 80 of OUR #ChibokGirls is true.???,” Ezekwesili tweeted Saturday evening on his Twitter handle, Obyezeks.

    Saharareporters reported on Saturday evening that a top military source has confirmed the release of eighty of the abducted girls.

    “None of us CAN EVER imagine how 80 Parents of OUR #ChibokGirls would feel should that news be TRUE. NO. ONLY THEY CAN KNOW THAT FEELING????,” she added in another tweet.

    Meanwhile, the Defence Headquarters said the media should await confirmation when contacted on the reported release.

    Official sources in Presidential Villa also declined to speak on the matter claiming they have no information on it.

    A highly dependable military source confirmed the release of some abducted Chibok girls but was not how many were freed.

     

    Senator Shehu Sani from Kaduna State in a tweet said “The Only authority to confirm the release of the Chibok girls is the Federal government.However,credible negotiations took place.”

  • We must hold government accountable – #BBOG

    We must hold government accountable – #BBOG

    Members of the #BringBackOurGirls (#BBOG) advocacy on Tuesday said their responsibility is to hold government accountable for its actions.

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Muhammed, on Monday advised the group to see the administration as a partner rather than an adversary in its quest to secure the release of the Chibok girls.

    #BBOG in a statement, marking 1000 days of advocacy, said it is their priority to awaken the government to its responsibility of protecting the lives and properties of its citizens like the Chibok girls.

    The group further stated that their activities have assisted in awakening global awareness on the cruel actions of Boko Haram.

    In a statement signed by leaders of the group, Former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili and Aisha Yesufu, the members said they remained resolute in demanding and compelling necessary government action.

    The statement said, “As a citizens’ movement, our priority has been to awaken our government to its responsibility of protecting lives and properties of its citizens like our #ChibokGirls. Our activities have invariably awakened global awareness and some actions against the cruel action of the Boko Haram terror group.

    “Staying above the fray of politics and change of governments, our movement has remained resolute in the singularity of purpose of demanding and compelling necessary government action to rescue the Chibok girls.”

     

     

  • #BBOG demands accountability, transparency from military

    Members of the #BringBackOurGirls (#BBOG) advocacy have demanded transparency and accountability from the Nigerian military on the financing of the counter-insurgency war.

    The group which said it understands that security operations are mostly classified, added that citizens believe a degree of transparency, accountability and disclosure is essential to gaining public confidence and achieving optimal results.

    #BBOG said it is not right that when soldiers are missing or killed in the war front, insufficient information is provided on number, name and identity of the victims.

    In a statement signed by leaders of the group, Oby Ezekwesili and Aisha Yesufu, as part of events marking day three of the Global Week Of Action to commemorate the 1000th day of Chibok girls’ abduction, said “it is necessary for our country to uphold the military tradition of properly mourning and honouring every one of our military men and women who are casualties of war with no exception.

    “Besides the tens of thousands of civilian victims of terrorist attacks, no other group apart from the Nigerian Army and intelligence agencies have lost more personnel in the over eight years old counterinsurgency war.

    “It is for this reason that we are dedicating the third march of our #DAY1000 Global Week of Action to the military with a special focus on the welfare of our forces. We therefore urge everyone to join us now in observing a minute silence in honor of all our military personnel who have died in gallantry, fighting to liberate and secure our citizens and land in the terror war.”

  • #ChibokGirls: Ezekwesili expresses gratitude to God, Buhari

    #ChibokGirls: Ezekwesili expresses gratitude to God, Buhari

    Following Thursday’s release of 21 out of the 218 Chibok school girls abducted by the terrorist Boko Haram group in Nigeria, the former minister of Education, and leading voice on the global #Bring Back Our Girls campaign, #BBOG, Oby Ezekwesili has expressed gratitude to God and equally thanked both the President Muhammadu Buhari and the gallant Nigerian soldiers for seeing to the safe release of the girls.

    Ezekwesili who took to the social media to express her joy over the release of the girls said her mood was that of weeping, a cry that is a mixture of multiple emotions.

    Calling on all Nigerians and the world to join voices with the Psalmist’s song of 126 in thanking God, she said at 4am in California, she could not sleep again because of joy. “I can only weep, right now. You know that kind of cry that is a mix of multiple emotions. Lord. Some of OUR Girls ARE BACK!!! B. A. C. K.!!”

    “As WE @BBOG_Nigeria wait for FG and #ChibokParents identification of OUR 21 #ChibokGirls, THANK YOU, LORD. THANK YOU, @MBuhari .Thank you.” “It is4am in California and I can no longer sleep. Join me in singing the words of Psalm126… “When the Lord turned again the CAPTIVITY…” She also said it was a thing of joy that the number of the abducted girls has now reduced from 218 to 197. “On this DAY913 of OUR #ChibokGirls: President @MBuhari What Are We Demanding?

    #BringBackOurGirlsNowAndAlive How many? 197 no longer 218!!!” “DAY 913 of OUR #ChibokGirls. WE @BBOG_Nigeria so thank our soldiers in the frontline of battle. You’ve given &keep giving so much SACRIFICE,” She concluded.

    The released girls were among the 219 students stolen from their dormitory bed in Chibok community, Borno State on April 14, 2014. The Chibok girls were exchanged for four Boko Haram prisoners in Banki, an official of the Ministry of Information said. The girls were exchanged for four Boko Haram prisoners in Banki, northeast Nigeria, said a local source.

    A government official said the ‘insurgents released the 21 Chibok girls to the Nigerian government.

    Other sources revealed that the Chibok girls were rescued in Banki area of Borno state where Boko Haram militants had left them Thursday by military helicopter.

    Recall that in previous videos from the militant group, its leader, Abubakar Shekau had demanded the release of Boko Haram fighters in exchange for the Chibok girls.

  • Amina Ali: Best evidence to find Chibok girls – Ezekwesilli

    Amina Ali: Best evidence to find Chibok girls – Ezekwesilli

    A former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesilli, on Thursday said the rescued Chibok girl, Amina Ali, is the most credible evidence the government needs to rescue the remaining 218 girls.

    Ezekwesilli said since the government claimed that it lacks credible intelligence, a young woman who had been in the terrorists’ enclave is the most credible evidence the government needs.

    She said, “The rescued Chibok girl, Amina is the most credible evidence that the government needs to rescue our Chibok girls.

    “The last time we met with Mr. President, he told us that he does not have credible evidence on the girls, well a young woman who was in the enclave of Boko Haram and has given them so much information so far on her classmates is the best evidence that our government needs.

    “‎The next thing is for the government and global community, all those countries that came up, offering their assistance, to work together so that the remaining 218 girls do not have to stay a day longer than necessary.”

     

  • Buhari’s economic policies “opaque, archaic”- Ezekwesili

    Buhari’s economic policies “opaque, archaic”- Ezekwesili

    Former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili on Saturday faulted President Muhammadu Buhari’s current economic policies.

    According to her, the economic policies are similar to those he promulgated during the military regime he led in the 1980s.

    She spoke at a public engagement forum organized by the Covenant Church led by Pastor Poju Oyemade in Abuja.

    Mrs. Ezekwesili said that Mr. Buhari’s “archaic” and “opaque” economic principles are not only encouraging massive corruption and abuse of power, but also hurting the poor they were intended to help.

    She said: “During the first coming of this our new president, a command and control economic system was adopted. During that era, inflation spiralled. During that era, jobs were lost. During that era, the economic growth level dipped.

    “That era wasn’t the best of eras in economic progress. What did not work in 1984 cannot possibly be a solution in a global economy that’s much more integrated.”

    She said that Mr. Buhari was rehashing the same “command and control” approach towards economic issues which has left the country’s economic indices worse off since he assumed office almost year ago.

    She added: “In over one year, the president is still holding to the premise that command and control is the only way out.

    “In a year we have lost the single digits inflation status we maintained in past administrations.” She said

    Mrs. Ezekwesili said Mr. Buhari’s distortion of foreign exchange system has left the poor it was intended to support even worse off.

    She said: “The president comes into this economic philosophy on the premise that he does not want the poor to suffer. I can relate to that, a leader must not allow the poor to suffer, especially a leader who knows that most of his votes came not from the elite but from the poor.

    “The problem though is that the intention and the outcome are diverged. The weakest and the most vulnerable suffer the impact of inflation the most. Enormous power is being abused as a result of opaque economic policies.

    “Companies are suddenly finding themselves unable to produce because they’re unable to access foreign exchange,” she said.

    Mrs. Ezekwesili, therefore, urged Mr. Buhari to sit down with his administration officials and reconsider the impact his polices have had on the nation’s economy.

    “Mr. President should sit with his team and look at the economic evidence that speaks loudly. It’s time to sit back and review the well-intended idea of command and control economic principle.

    “He should do what the Americans say that if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it,” Mrs. Ezekwesili stated.

  • Senate: Retirement home of ex-governors – Ezekwesili

    Senate: Retirement home of ex-governors – Ezekwesili

    The former Education Minister, Oby Ezekwesili on Monday reacted to the revelation from the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), which claimed that the Nigerian Senate inflated the cost of buying Toyota Land Cruiser Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) for its members.

    Speaking through posts on her social media handle, Ezekwesili described the act as wicked demanding that Citizen occupy the National Assembly.

    Her reactions: “Governance has a Supply and a Demand side. For 50+years in Nigeria, only the Supply Side was active and so learned the bad ways of Monopolists.

    “Monopolists have no incentive to be efficient with product/price since there is no consequence. Sole Supply Side, Governance acts same.”

    The former minister stressed that until citizens activate the demand side of governance and pressure the supply side to be accountable and effective, good governance may never be realized in Nigeria.

    “The Senate needs to hear from as many of us – Citizens – as possible that we stopped laughing at their expensive jokes a long time ago,” she noted.

    Please find her posts below:

     

    In a statement made available to The Nation in Abuja and signed by its President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, the NLC accused the Senate of spending money without appropriation when it publicly admitted that its standing committees cannot carry out their functions due to paucity of funds.

    The congress said while the senate purchased each of the cars for N35.1 million, the actual market price of the vehicles stands at N17 million.

    Read Full Report

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  • Self proclaimed Chibok bomber, a victim, says #BringBackOurGirls group

    Self proclaimed Chibok bomber, a victim, says #BringBackOurGirls group

    The #BringBackOurGirls (#BBOG) advocacy group has said that the teenager bomber who claimed to be one of the Chibok girls when she was apprehended in Cameroon‎ is a victim despite the situation.

    The group said that the claim by the young girl should re-awaken the Federal Government on the need to speedily rescue the Chibok girls who will soon be celebrating two years in captivity.

    #BBOG said that the arrest of the girl means that ‎the government now has a means of credible intelligence as to the location of the other girls and the need to rescue them.

    The group responded to the arrest in a press statement signed by‎ its leaders, Aisha Yesufu, Oby Ezekwesili and Hadiza Bala-Usman.

    “We received news yesterday Friday 25 March, of an arrested girl-child suicide bomber in Cameroon who identified herself as one of our abducted Chibok girls.

    “We are presently unable to respond to this news conclusively until we have facts from the Nigerian government; from whom we requested and have eagerly been awaiting official information on the matter.

    “In the interim however, our thoughts are as follows:

    “The claim by the young woman that she is a Chibok girl should reawaken the Nigerian government to the zeal and commitment necessary for ensuring that they are rescued and brought back;

    “This development suggests that we now have a possible source of credible intelligence as to what transpired, where the others are, and other leads required to facilitate their rescue.

    “Regardless of whether she is one of our Chibok girls or not, our thoughts and sentiments remain the same:

    “Using children, girls who should be in school (or any humans at all) as suicide bombers is not only tragic and cruel, it is completely reprehensible and we denounce it;

    “These children suicide bomber are themselves victims, and must be seen and treated as such;

    “We all must hasten to free all those in captivity. For as long as they are with the monsters, we all are ourselves unsafe and equally in captivity;

    “A few weeks ago, a girl suicide bomber did not detonate her device at an IDP camp because she knew her family was most likely in that camp, and she could not kill them. It is important to send out messages that counter the programming of the terrorists. This may help in empowering these victims from detonating the explosives and accessing help;

    “This particular experience highlights the importance of building not only a regional coalition among neighbouring countries to counter terror, but a global one.

    “The Nigerian government as a matter of urgency, needs to swiftly act to ascertain the facts of this matter and make them public. It is getting to 24 hours since the news broke. We need to know her name and identity, her parents’ names, where she is from, possibly extract DNA samples for quick testing and matching, etc.

    “This should be a wakeup call to the Nigerian government to adopt and utilise our citizens-developed tool the Verification, Authentication, and Reunification System (VARS) designed by our movement for such scenarios as these. This tool was accepted by the federal government on 8 July 2015 during our meeting with the president, but has not been deployed.

    “Likewise, the Missing Persons Register which would have been useful in tracking this young victim in order to commence her rehabilitation, reunification, and reintegration process with her family and community,” the group stated.

  • Chibok girls: Jonathan’s govt frustrated rescue efforts – Ezekwesili

    Chibok girls: Jonathan’s govt frustrated rescue efforts – Ezekwesili

    Former Minister of Education and Co-converner of the #BringBackOurGirls group, Obiageli Ezekwesili, on Thursday said that the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan was a terrible period in the rescue of the Chibok Girls.

    Ezekwesili said that the former president’s administration gave false information that demoralized the advocacy of the group and many Nigerians.

    The former minister, who spoke on Kaakaki, a weekly programme on African Independent Television to mark 500 days since the girls were kidnapped from their Secondary school in Chibok, Borno state, added that the parents of the girls never got any information that was credible from the then government.

    She said that the group rejoiced when former Chief of Defense Staff announced to Nigerians and the rest of the world that government knew where the girls were being held.

    Information, she said, turned out to be ‘decorating information’ by the then government.

    She said: “You recall that on May 26, 2014 the then Chief of Defense staff said that they had located the girls that the issue was that they needed strategic maneuver in other to rescue them alive.

    “We were rejoicing on the day that that information was given. Subsequently other false information was given to us by the same government and that completely demoralized our advocacy because it suddenly seemed as if the desire was not really focused on credibly finding the girls.

    “It was not just the BringBackOurGirls that was demoralized during that period. It was the whole world. The whole world could not understand how come the information concerning the girls just seemed to be massaged in all directions.

    “At some point we did a mapping of the various information that was coming out of government. We said to ourselves that we were not going to be an anecdotal movement. We were going to simply keep a focus on monitoring the statements of government, the actions of government so that we could analytically say this is what the trend seems to suggest.

    “I am saying to you with every sincere bone in me that it was a terrible period.”

    She said that the group has renewed hope that the Chibok girls will be rescued since it met with President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Ezekwesili said that the 219 girls who answered the call to be educated will not be forgotten.

    “219 young women who answered the call to be educated in other to improve their lot in life as well as enhance our own society cannot be abandoned by their nation and fellow citizen. That therefore keeps us hopeful. We are never going to stop hoping. They cannot be forgotten.

    “We met with the president on July 8. During that engagement the president reiterated the point that he had in his inaugural address that rescuing the Chibok girls was of priority for the administration and that they would maximize their efforts at rescuing the girls.

    “We see that as the constructive engagement that we desired with the government when this situation first arouse we see it now. That is constructive, that is based on a sense that government owes accountability to citizens,” she added.

     

  • Rumour of rescue of Chibok girls strong- Ezekwesili

    Rumour of rescue of Chibok girls strong- Ezekwesili

    Leader of the Bringbackourgirls campaign,Oby Ezekwesili, has confirmed speculations of the rescue of some of the Chibok girls abducted by the Boko Haram insurgents.

    The report however turned out to be false on Tuesday evening.

    In a tweet earlier on  Tuesday on her Twitter  handle @obyezeks to mark Day 162 days of the girls’ abduction, she wrote,” Yes, the rumor of their rescue is strong…. WE wait with earnest HOPE & expectation for EVIDENCE. What JOY!!!”

    “My heart is POUNDING in excited anxiety as WE wait. Lord, please let not our HOPE be dashed. Let this be THE DAY!

    “Have said it would be a DAY of UNSPEAKABLE JOY when the agony of our 219 Daughters and their parents shall end.

    cannot confirm because they also don’t know and are hearing strong rumors like EVERYONE OF US. Waiting is HARD. Too HARD”

    At about 7.20 Ezekwesili tweeted ” Once again, our HOPE is dashed. The says rumor not true that OUR were rescued. It is HEART BREAKING. Speechless.”