Emotion ran freely yesterday in Chibok, Borno State among surviving parents of the 219 missing schoolgirls. The parents of the Chibok girls all wore depressed faces when a delegation of government officials visited the school where the abduction took place on April 14, 2014.
The parents wept uncontrollable. They cried at the top of their voices. The leader of the parents of Chibok girls, Mr. Yakubu Nkeki, said the grief and sorrow arising from their missing daughters are boldly written on their faces. The parents stated that only the release of their daughters could relieve their pains.
He asked: “We cannot fathom your definite location and the condition you are in right now. Are you alive or dead? Are you pregnant, put to bed or empty? Have you eaten the food of your choice or forced to eat something against your will? Have you taken your bath today? How do you take care of yourself during your menstrual flow?
“We don’t know whether you are dead or alive, whether you have eaten or not, whether you are forced to do things you wouldn’t want to do or not, but we miss you and pray for you.”
Nkeki said they were aware nobody could answer some of the posers except the abductors of their daughters. The parents of the girls urged the Federal Government to step up efforts at freeing the girls. Yakubu alleged that the Federal Government was not doing enough to free the schoolgirls even as he appealed to the state government to rebuild the destroyed school. The parents expressed concerns on silence on the report of a Presidential Fact-finding Committee set up former President Goodluck Jonathan to establish facts surrounding the abduction of their children. The parents demanded that findings made by the committee are made public so that they will know if anyone has questions to answer.
The committee had submitted its report in 2014, but the then Presidency didn’t make the report public. Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State, accompanied the delegation of the Federal Government led by the Minister of Environment, Hajiya Amina Mohammed; Minister of State for Power, Works and Housing, Mustapha Baba Shehuri; Senate Majority Leader, Mohammed Ali Ndume; Presidential Adviser on Social Protection, Mrs. Maryam Uwais; Senator Binta Mashi (Adamawa); founding member of the BBOG, Hadiza Bala Usman, and officials of Borno State Government to Chibok yesterday in commemoration of the two years of the abduction. The delegation, accompanied by armed security escorts, travelled by road from Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, for about three and half hours.
They passed through horrible sights of communities attacked by Boko Haram along Maiduguri- Damboa to Chibok. Speaking during the visit, Governor Shettima said he shares the pains of the Chibok parents and was working hard with the Federal Government for the release of the abducted schoolgirls. Shettima said former President Goodluck Jonathan should be blamed for the woes of the Chibok parents. The governor stated that the schoolgirls would have been freed few days after the abduction had the president acted. “Former President Goodluck didn’t even believe the abduction took place. Perhaps that was why he and his wife never visited Chibok even for once.
One noisy governor even recently said the abduction of our daughters was false. This clearly shows their mentality, I urge you to pray the more. “We now have in President Muhammadu Buhari someone with very strong commitment to finding your daughters and ours. We are jointly working very hard and we won’t stop until they are reunited with you. I have daughters, I know exactly how you feel,” the governor told the parents.
He challenged the people to submit the list of indigenous contractors of Chibok extraction to the government for consideration for the award of contracts for the building of new schools and hospital in Chibok.
The Environment Minister, Mohammed, said the visit was to show the extent of Buhari’s affection for the traumatised parents. “He wants your daughters back and he wants all other captives back, he wants to end this insurgency and he is doing everything to achieve these important objectives that top his priorities since assumption of office,” the minister said. The minister donated a truck of food items, clothing and money for the mothers of the missing girls.
Senators Ndume and Mashi also empathised with the girls’ parents. “President Buhari is committed to securing the release of the girls, but we need to be focused and support the government. It is not time for blames,” Ndume said. Mashi, who addressed the parents with Biblical scriptures, ruled out religious motives on the abduction. “Insurgents have no regards for religion, they attack anyone, no matter your religion. Those who founded the BringBackOurGirls coalition are mostly Muslims like Hadiza Bala Usman who came all the way from Kaduna State and she is here with us to stand by you,” she noted.
Usman broke down in tears when it was her time to address the parents. “I know exactly how you feel,” she said, as she couldn’t hold her tears. Uwais, also a founding member of the BBOG, called on the parents to be strong.
“We have daughters, we know what it means to have a daughter abducted and this is why we will stand by you,” she said. Chairman, Chibok Local Government, Abba Lawan, thanked the delegation and the state government. The Initiator of #Bring- BackOurGirls# campaign, Dr. Aisha Bala Usman, also attended the commemorative event.
