Statement: The Rescue of 200 Girls and 93 Women From Sambisa Forrest on April 28, 2015
#BRINGBACKOURGIRLS PRESS STATEMENT
Thursday 30th April 2015
The Rescue of 200 Girls and 93 Women From Sambisa Forrest on April 28, 2015
We received with great excitement news of the rescue by the Nigerian Army of 200 girls and 93 women held in captivity in Sambisa Forest by Terrorists. We naturally like most people assumed that the 200 girls are part of our 219 Chibok Schools that our movement has been advocating to be rescued since April 30th 2014, one year ago. However, we were surprised when the spokesperson of the Nigerian Army, Colonel S. K. Usman, subsequently said that no Chibok Girl is among the 200 girls that the military conveyed had been rescued.
As a movement, we consider the rescue of fellow Nigerians who were deprived of their freedom a healthy development in the counter insurgency war. We are therefore overjoyed to welcome our dear citizens back to freedom. We have in the last one year of our Advocacy for our #ChibokGirls, persistently conveyed that we consider our #ChibokGirls the symbol of the suffering, killings, abductions, destabilization and degradation in the Northeast of our country. Although, like others, we often read news of random abductions before and after the massive scale of the abduction of our 276 school girls of Chibok. We never imagined that a rescue of this magnitude of abducted people is possible without been our #ChibokGirls. The reason for this is simple.
There was never a time in the last one year that the Federal Government or our military, directly executing the counter insurgency war informed the public that a large catchment of our citizens other than the Chibok Girls were in terrorist custody. So, we join members of the public in asking for an immediate verification and authentication of the 200 girls and the 93 women that were rescued. At the end of that exercise, which should not last more than this weekend, we expect the Federal Government to answer the following questions;
From what part of the country were the rescued 200 girls and 93 women abducted?
When were they abducted?
Why and Who abducted them?
How were they abducted?
Was the original incident ever reported to or by our Security Agencies?
Why were the public without information of his abduction?
Can the public have more disclosure surrounding the events of the rescue mission?
Were there casualties during the rescue exercise?
Where were the terrorists that held the abductees in captivity?
In what state were they found when the rescue took place?
Our advocacy has been a Citizens’ quest for truth. We have consistently demanded from our government the truth behind the information and the action taken in response to the acts of savagery taken against our people and our country. It is time for the public to be given only the truth on all matters concerning the counter insurgency.
We as a movement have designed a Verification, Authentication and Reuniting System that is holistic for Rehabilitation, Reintegration and Resettlement of victims of abduction. The key highlight would require Two Teams comprising;
1. The Federal Government, led by the National Security Adviser, Leaders of the Counter Insurgency Task Force, the Department of State Security on one hand; and
2. The State Governments of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, aided and supported by Local Authorities and Traditional Leaders, on the other hand;
Working with the abducted victims’ families and communities to accurately ascertain the true identity of every individual.
Following accurate identification, the comprehensive program for Recovery, Rehabilitation Resettlement and Reintegration of all the rescued 200 girls and 93 women should be implemented by both the Borno State Government and the Federal Government supported by development partners, NGOs and public spirited Nigerians. Our movement, #BringBackOurGirls, stands ready to support such a program immediately.
Finally, we wish to commend our Military and the Multinational Joint Task Force for the positive turn in the counterinsurgency effort since the six weeks operation started on February 14 2015.
We want to add that we consider the rescue of the 28th April 2015, as the clearest signal that our #ChibokGirls can and will be rescued. We recall our optimism that our #ChibokGirls will be rescued is further strengthened by the assurance of the National Security Adviser, Rtd. Colonel Sambo Dasuki, to the President on the One Year Commemoration of the their abduction that the military will dislodge the terrorist from Sambisa Forest and rescue our 219 #ChibokGirls.
We therefore demand of our Federal Government the doubling up of efforts in ensuring that, as promised by the National Security Adviser, our #ChibokGirls will be rescued before 29th of May.
For us, in the #BringBackOurGirls movement, there shall be no retreat no surrender of our advocacy until our #ChibokGirls are rescued by the government of Nigeria. Our demand shall remain “Bring Back Our Girls”. When asked when shall you stop? Our response will always be “Not until our girls are back”. When asked when shall you stop? We shall answer “Not without our daughters”.
#BringBackOurGirls Now and Alive! This is our solemn commitment.
Signed:
For and On Behalf Of BringBackOurGirls Group
OBY EZEKWESILI
HADIZA BALA-USMAN
2 Comments
Gali
The river near our home began flooding. We were on our way home and the water was beinignng to flow over the road. We thought we could make it across this low spot in the road, it was about 1/10 of a mile long. We started across it. The water was rising fast and water started coming in the floor of the truck and the engine quit. I prayed feverishly, and suddenly the truck started and we drove on across.It was a Saturday. I had the kids in the car and we went shopping for the usual stuff, nothing unusual, except that we needed a new kitchen sink faucet and I was unsure of which one I should buy. So I stopped by the house and picked up my husband. I turned the car off and we briefly went into the house to get him, and returned to the car. The car would not start. There was no sound, no grinding, no clicking, nothing. No dome light, no radio, nothing. We lifted the hood of the car and stood there wondering what to do. We could see nothing wrong, so we sat in the front seat for a minute, thinking about what to do next. Suddenly the dome light and the radio came on, and the car started. We took off for the store and as we went up the on-ramp to the freeway a huge accident had just occurred and people were running to damaged vehicles. I saw one man hand a baby out a car window to a stranger. He himself was trapped in the car, but the window was down just enough that he could get the baby out of the car through the window. We would have been if that accident , but God protected us.I was driving on a country road in a remote area of northern California, near the Oregon border. This was a sparsely populated area. I had a flat tire, so I got out the jack and attempted to lift the car to get the spare on. It was on old, heavy car, and although I know intellectually how to change the tire, I was not strong enough to depress the handle of the jack. I tried and tried, my teenage daughter and I tried together, but even the two of us together were not able to lift the car. A minute or two after our failed attempts and truck pulled up on this seldom traveled road. The man got out to see what he could do to help us. He just happened to have a floor jack in the back of his truck. Nothing else, just the floor jack. He changed our tire. I offered to pay him, but he would not take any money.On a similar old road in northern California I ran out of gas. The gas gauge was broken. I got out of the car to start walking to the nearest town. My step-mother rolled down the car window and yelled Where are you going ? I yelled back into town to get some gas . A man came out of the bushes at the side of the road and said You need gas? I have gas, and handed me a gallon of regular gas. I put it into the gas tank, handed the empty can to him and offered to pay for the gas. He refused to take any money and walked back into the bushes.My daughter, granddaughter and I were driving from the coast of Ca. to Reno. Outside of Redding, Ca. rocks fell off the cliff onto the road. I could not avoid them all, and hit one rock. We drove on, into and through Redding and several miles on the other side of Redding. Suddenly we had a flat tire. I pulled over, my daughter and I started unloading the trunk to get to the spare, and a man on the opposite side of the road with fishing gear in his hands yelled Flat tire ? We shook our heads Yes . He yelled to his fishing buddies down on the Trinity River. They acted like a pit crew and changed our tire. The father of the bunch told us to go back into Redding and buy another spare at a certain location. We bought a spare and had it mounted for three dollars. I knew it was about time for my annual mammogram, but I was in no hurry to do it. Finally one day I was prompted within myself to call and make an appointment. When I arrived for the appointment the woman looked in my file and said If this was yesterday your insurance would not have paid for this. Today is the first day that they will pay, because exactly one year has passed since your last mammogram . I had breast cancer, it was caught the first day it could have been caught with my insurance paying for it. I had surgery, radiation, and oral meds. That was eight years ago. I am now cancer free.
Gali
The river near our home began flooding. We were on our way home and the water was beinignng to flow over the road. We thought we could make it across this low spot in the road, it was about 1/10 of a mile long. We started across it. The water was rising fast and water started coming in the floor of the truck and the engine quit. I prayed feverishly, and suddenly the truck started and we drove on across.It was a Saturday. I had the kids in the car and we went shopping for the usual stuff, nothing unusual, except that we needed a new kitchen sink faucet and I was unsure of which one I should buy. So I stopped by the house and picked up my husband. I turned the car off and we briefly went into the house to get him, and returned to the car. The car would not start. There was no sound, no grinding, no clicking, nothing. No dome light, no radio, nothing. We lifted the hood of the car and stood there wondering what to do. We could see nothing wrong, so we sat in the front seat for a minute, thinking about what to do next. Suddenly the dome light and the radio came on, and the car started. We took off for the store and as we went up the on-ramp to the freeway a huge accident had just occurred and people were running to damaged vehicles. I saw one man hand a baby out a car window to a stranger. He himself was trapped in the car, but the window was down just enough that he could get the baby out of the car through the window. We would have been if that accident , but God protected us.I was driving on a country road in a remote area of northern California, near the Oregon border. This was a sparsely populated area. I had a flat tire, so I got out the jack and attempted to lift the car to get the spare on. It was on old, heavy car, and although I know intellectually how to change the tire, I was not strong enough to depress the handle of the jack. I tried and tried, my teenage daughter and I tried together, but even the two of us together were not able to lift the car. A minute or two after our failed attempts and truck pulled up on this seldom traveled road. The man got out to see what he could do to help us. He just happened to have a floor jack in the back of his truck. Nothing else, just the floor jack. He changed our tire. I offered to pay him, but he would not take any money.On a similar old road in northern California I ran out of gas. The gas gauge was broken. I got out of the car to start walking to the nearest town. My step-mother rolled down the car window and yelled Where are you going ? I yelled back into town to get some gas . A man came out of the bushes at the side of the road and said You need gas? I have gas, and handed me a gallon of regular gas. I put it into the gas tank, handed the empty can to him and offered to pay for the gas. He refused to take any money and walked back into the bushes.My daughter, granddaughter and I were driving from the coast of Ca. to Reno. Outside of Redding, Ca. rocks fell off the cliff onto the road. I could not avoid them all, and hit one rock. We drove on, into and through Redding and several miles on the other side of Redding. Suddenly we had a flat tire. I pulled over, my daughter and I started unloading the trunk to get to the spare, and a man on the opposite side of the road with fishing gear in his hands yelled Flat tire ? We shook our heads Yes . He yelled to his fishing buddies down on the Trinity River. They acted like a pit crew and changed our tire. The father of the bunch told us to go back into Redding and buy another spare at a certain location. We bought a spare and had it mounted for three dollars. I knew it was about time for my annual mammogram, but I was in no hurry to do it. Finally one day I was prompted within myself to call and make an appointment. When I arrived for the appointment the woman looked in my file and said If this was yesterday your insurance would not have paid for this. Today is the first day that they will pay, because exactly one year has passed since your last mammogram . I had breast cancer, it was caught the first day it could have been caught with my insurance paying for it. I had surgery, radiation, and oral meds. That was eight years ago. I am now cancer free.