Osinbajo: Remaining Chibok Girls Will Be Released ‘Very Soon’
On April 14, 2014, Boko Haram
insurgents abducted 276 girls from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok,
Borno state.
The sect released 82 of the
girls in May in a prisoner-swap deal with the federal government, and 21 were
let go in October 2016.
But since then, little has been
heard from the federal government concerning the 113 still in captivity.
Osinbajo, who was represented
by Babafemi Ojudu, special assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on political
matters, said government’s silence is only strategic.
He reassured the group that
government had been meeting with service chiefs concerning the abduction of the
girls as well as others in Boko Haram custody and that efforts were being
intensified to secure their release.
“I’ve been asked by the acting
president to assure you of the support of the government concerning your
agitation for the return of all the girls that were kidnapped by members of
Boko Haram,” Ojudu said.
“He said he is fully with you,
that he is recognising what you are doing and he is hearing you loud and clear.
“On the issue of the
policewomen that are being held and even concerning the girls, on a daily
basis, the acting president has been meeting with security chiefs and making
contacts with negotiators across the world who have helped in the past to
secure those that have been released.
“So we have not at any point
forgotten these children who could be any of our children. The acting president
has asked me to reassure you this afternoon, to tell you that he is with you
and that your cries are his cries.
“And the fact that we are not
coming out to say what is being done is strategic and also for security
reasons. He also said I should tell you that very soon, more of the girls, if
not all of them, all of them, will be brought back home.”
Earlier speaking, Oby
Ezekwesili, co-convener of the group urged the government to
restrategise its anti-terrorism approach to ensure that all the girls, as
well as the policewomen and oil workers abducted by the sect, are released.
“We were of the conviction that
the government, which managed to secure the release of 82 of them will also
secure the release of the remaining 113,” she said.
“We thought that the government
has figured a way to get back our girls so we estimated that the remaining 113
will return in lesser time it took the 82 to come home.
“If only one voice remains,
that would continue to demand the release of our Chibok girls, it is good
enough. It’s enough to re-echo our voice across the universe.”
Culled from www.thecable.ng
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