I Don't Know Where Your Daughters Are - Buhari Allegedly 'Shocks' Chibok Parents, BBOG Group
Members
of the 'Bring Back Our Girls' movement focused on influencing the
rescue of the missing Chibok girls have expressed dissatisfaction with
President Buhari's attitude towards them when they went to see him
yesterday.
President Muhammadu Buhari
President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday told the parents of the
missing Chibok girls that he did not know where their daughters were,
TheCable reports.
The parents, 136 of them, together with members of the
Bringbackourgirls (BBOG) movement, converged at the banquet hall of the
presidential villa, seeking answers to the whereabouts of the 219
missing schoolgirls from Chibok in Borno state.
They were however shocked and broken when the president told them
in unequivocal terms that he did not have any information on the
whereabouts of the girls.
According to TheCable, Aisha Yesufu, a leader of the BBOG movement,
who spoke shortly after a 45-minute meeting with the president that
journalists were barred from attending, said that the advocacy group
would keep demanding the safe rescue of the girls from the government.
“The president said he had no credible intelligence on the
missing Chibok girls. He said he is somebody who does not lie. And he
will not start by lying,” Yesufu said.
“We are not saying the president should lie, but when you are
saying there is no credible intelligence, and that the girls are
scattered and married off; then how do we know? These are two things.
“And he said it (abduction of the Chibok girls) happened during
the last administration. I find it very worrisome. I remember one of
the parents asked what he meant by saying it happened in the last
administration. Does it mean the girls will not be rescued?
“I would like the president to know that there is no vacuum in
government. That it happened during the last administration is not an
excuse. It is duty of the Nigerian government to ensure that the Chibok
girls are rescued. It is their right and not a privilege. And where we
have failed there is a need for us to apologise.
“As for me, I was terribly sad and shocked because the president did not look at the parents to say ‘we are sorry as a nation for your children who have been abducted for 21 months’.
“The president finished his speech, he dropped the microphone
and walked out. And I thought that could have been a moment for him to
connect with the parents.
“We will continue our campaign. We do not care who the head of
the government is. It is duty of the Nigerian government to rescue the
Chibok and we will continue making our demands. The government should
stop the excuses.”
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