Press statement for day 115 since the abduction of the chibokgirls and 100 days of daily sit outs in Abuja
Press Statement For Immediate Release #BringBackOurGirls:
115 days of Waiting for Results from the Rescue Operation of over 200 Abducted Chibok Girls
Today marks day 115 since the abduction of over 200 girls from Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, while they were sitting for their final exams. The world seems to have moved on, as we note with concern the lack of evidence to back the statements by the Government that all is being done to rescue our girls. We also note statements credited to the US Government over sighting of the girls in July 2014. Knowing the location of the girls is a positive development but this is not the first time Nigerians have been told that the location of the girls is already known. We also note the ambiguity in the statement credited to the President in Washington DC that efforts to negotiate with the insurgents are ongoing even though the earlier position of the government had been that it would not negotiate with Boko Haram. It is this ambiguity and double talk which gives our movement great cause for concern about the sincerity of the effort to rescue the abducted girls.
At its meeting on July 30, 2014, the Council of State promised that the insurgency in the North East will end by December 2014. We call on the Government to provide adequate information on how this is to be achieved considering that the insurgency in the North East has only escalated in the past several months and previous assurances by the Government and its functionaries have not produced any results.
We urge the Government to scale up its efforts in the rescue operation, to ensure that this debacle comes to an end because of the separation of the innocent girls from their grieving parents. Their education has come to a stand still, as they remain in captivity with the insurgents. Worse still, their continued stay in captivity has given room for unfounded speculations about the role the girls are purported to have played in recent suicide attacks. We should all bury our heads in shame that 115 days since their abduction, we have not produced any visible results. Instead, the girls are being victimized further by associating them with heinous crime.
These girls are our collective trust. Every additional day they spend in captivity testifies to our collective failure as a people, even more so, the failure of our government to discharge its obligation to them. It is bad enough the true condition of these girls is unknown. It is worse to begin to associate them with unspeakable and despicable crime. Our sense of decency and propriety is taking leave of us.
While we continue in our resolve to remind Government of its obligation to rescue the Chibok Girls, it is imperative that we inform the general public that the #BringBackOurGirls Abuja family is in possession of credible information about an imminent attack on the daily sit-out organised by our Movement. We have taken necessary precautions to avoid any planned attacks, but are openly calling on Government and its security agencies, especially the Nigeria Police and the Department of State Security, to provide adequate security for our daily protest as we are not planning to give our protest up. We will persevere in the demand for the swift rescue of the abducted Chibok girls until they are brought back to us, safe and alive.
We are immensely grateful to all our members, Nigerians, friends of Nigeria all over the world and the media for supporting our Chibok Girls. We must all continue to demand #BringBackOurGirls Now and Alive!
We shall not stop #UntilOurGirlsAreBackAndAlive!
Thank You.
