The BringBackOurGirls (BBOG), a campaign group for the return of the over 200 school girls abducted by Boko Haram from Chibok, has demanded an apology from the government of the former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan for laxity in addressing the issue before it turned into complex matter.
The group, led by a former education minister, Oby Ezekwesili, marched en-mass to the Presidential Villa today, where they met with President Muhammadu Buhari and made it clear that the apology is needed also for the failure of governance that led to the abduction.
They also demanded an apology for the failure of governance that caused failure to rescue the girls for over 400 days and asked the government to come out with; strategies for curbing the emergence, and growth of curious sects.
The group also wanted the government to immediately set up a structured feedback and communication system that is composed of the Federal and Borno State Governments through designated security and ministerial authorities, the parents of the abducted girls.
The group said there should a feedback mechanism so that the affected parents and the public can have regular updates on efforts to rescue the 219 ChibokGirls.
The group requested President Buhari to personally visit Chibok to make him have a first-hand impression of the plight of the families who lost their children a year ago. The girls were abducted on April 14, 2014.
The failure of then President Goodluck Jonathan to visit the community, and his handling of the Boko Haram crisis, drew wide national and international condemnation. The former president also refused to meet with the BringBackOurGirls group.
“The entire Chibok community anxiously requests that Mr. President visit Chibok within the first 100 days of this administration to have a first-hand view of the plight of our people, while we look forward to the safe return of our daughters very soon,” said Dauda Illiya, who spoke on behalf of Kibaku Area Development Association, an association of indigenes of Chibok community.
Responding, President Buhari said that the issue of the Chibok abduction was handled by the Jonathan government with levity, saying that the conflicting report between the security agencies and the federal government had put the country in bad light locally and internationally.
“The delayed and late reaction by former government and its agencies was very unfortunate” he said.
He however assured that his government will do its best to restore the respectability of the country and its institutions, adding that strategies, which cannot be made public at the time, have been put in place to defeat the Boko Haram scourge.
The President said that he was pleased that the Boko Haram terrorists were blowing up themselves in the process of their attacks and should “change their names from Boko Haram to something else, because no religion will kill the innocents.
“You can’t go and kill innocent people and say Allahu Akbar! It’s either you don’t believe it or you don’t know what you are saying. So, it has nothing to do with religion, they are just terrorist and Nigeria will demobilise all of them.” [myad]
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