Politics

Chibok community appeals to Buhari to rescue remaining 92 missing girls

Published

1 year ago

April 14, 2023

The Kibaku Area Development Association (KADA) known also as the Chibok community in Borno State on Friday appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to fulfill his promise of rescuing the remaining Chibok Secondary School girls abducted by the Boko Haram terrorists nine years ago.

The Chairman of the association, Nkeki Mutah, who made the appeal while marking the ninth anniversary of the girls’ abduction in Abuja, noted that Buhari had on several occasions promised to rescue the remaining girls still held captive by the terrorists.

Boko Haram insurgents on April 14, 2014, abducted 276 schoolgirls from their hostels in the college.

However, on assumption to the office on May 29, 2015, Buhari promised to rescue the girls and flush out the terrorists causing a humanitarian disaster in the North-East.

Mutah, however, lamented that Buhari in 2016 set up a five-man committee headed by the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, to free the girls, but this has not yielded the desired results.

He noted that 92 of the girls are still in captivity while up to 20 parents of the missing girls had passed away.

Mutah said: “Today, 14 April 2023, marks exactly nine years since 276 schoolgirls of Government Secondary School, Chibok were abducted in their school on the night of 14-15 April 2014; 57 escaped, 219 Chibok girls were missing for years until Amina Ali Nkeki escaped and was found on May 17, 2018, 25 months and three days after the abduction.

“As of today, 126 Chibok girls are back, 92 of them remain missing for exactly 3,285 days. Within this time up to 20 parents of our missing girls have passed on mostly from heart conditions due to the trauma they suffered, and some from terrorist attacks.

“In his first inauguration speech on May 29, 2015, President Buhari clearly stated that ‘But we cannot claim to have defeated Boko Haram without rescuing the Chibok girls and other innocent persons held by the insurgents.

“On 24th of December 2015, President Buhari declared that Nigeria had ‘technically won the war against the terrorists; this, without the return of one single Chibok girl or others in captivity as promised in his inauguration speech.

“I assure you that I go to bed and wake up every day with the Chibok girls in my mind. Securing the return of the Chibok girls is my responsibility. And God knows I have done my best and will continue to do my best, were some of the things he said. The investigation committee was never inaugurated, never took off, never met once, to this day.

“On 19 February 2018, 110 schoolgirls of Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi were abducted by the terrorists. Five of them did not survive the attack, and all of the surviving 105 of them eventually returned except Leah Sharibu, who at the time was a 14-year-old girl.

“Our appeal to President Muhammadu Buhari as he leaves office in another six weeks is to remember that he made promises that are yet to be fully fulfilled. There are 92 Chibok girls still in captivity whom he made a promise about.

“There are 14 Chibok girls who are back but held in custody with no information about them or any headway. There is Leah Sharibu who is still in captivity to this day. We are also very concerned about the seemingly rising confidence of the terrorists who recently shared images of their newly trained recruits.”

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