By Sadiq Umar – The BringBackOurGirls campaign movement has faulted President Muhammadu Buhari, over his comment that the Boko Haram insurgents have been “defeated technically”, insisting that there could be no such assertion without the rescue of the 219 abducted Chibok school girls.
The Group reminded the President of his earlier promise to the nation on May 29, 2015 and to the Chibok parents as well as the BringBackOurGirls campaigners at a meeting in July last year where he assured them he would rescue the missing girls.
“It was utterly shocking when the president declared in a BBC interview on 24 December that the terrorists had been ‘technically defeated’ without referencing the rescue of our Chibok girls whom he had set as the benchmark for measuring such success,” it said in a statement on Monday.
The statement signed by Group’s coordinators, Aisha Yesufu, Hadiza Bala Usman and Oby Ezekwesili, expressed disappointment at the President’s comments that Boko Haram had been technically defeated without the rescue of the Chibok schoolgirls.
“We are extremely disappointed that seven months after his strong promise at inauguration and six months after his pledge to the parents, Chibok community and our movement that he would rescue the 219 daughters of Nigeria, his statement was lacking in urgency and assurance of strategy for result,” it stated.
“Further, that the president gave the impression of a reactive approach of ‘waiting for credible Boko Haram leadership’ to tell us whether our girls are alive or not, falls disappointingly short of the proactive feedback we expected.
“Our movement therefore refuses to accept that lack of ‘credible intelligence on our girls’ whereabouts” as a tenable reason for the evident lack of progress in rescuing our ChibokGirls.”
“The federal government should investigate all statements preciously made by state actors and/or high-ranking military officers that ‘we know where the Chibok girls are’, with the view to getting at the bottom of the matter on our girls’ whereabouts.
“The federal government should immediately set up a search and rescue team to find our Chibok girls.
“KADA (the Chibok community) strongly demands that President Muhammadu Buhari gives the rescue of our abducted Chibok girls the priority attention it deserves, as Boko Haram cannot be said to have been defeated – technically or otherwise – without the safe return of our abducted daughters.,” added.
