‘Keep hope alive’, Buhari tells parents as Chibok Girls clock 4yrs in captivity of B’Haram

As over 100 of the Chibok secondary schoolgirls kidnapped four years ago by Boko Haram terrorist remained in captivity, President Muhammadu Buhari has assured that his administration is still hopeful of securing the release of the girls.

About 270 students of Government Girls Secondary School Chibok, Borno State, we’re on April 14, 2014, kidnapped from their school. While some of them escaped soon after the incident and some were released after the Federal Government negotiation with the insurgent group, over 100 of the girls have remained in Boko Haram captivity, even as government claimed that the group has been defeated.

However, Buhari in a statement on Friday through his Senior Special Assistant (SSA) Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, assured parents of the girls that “their daughters will never be forgotten or abandoned to their fate, despite four long years since they were taken away by terrorists.”

The statement read, “President Buhari joins the Borno State government, parents of the children and Nigerians in commemorating the fourth anniversary of the sad incident, praying that the event at the daughters’ school today will go well.

“The President urges the parents to keep their hopes alive on the return of their daughters, noting that the recovery of more than a 100 of the girls that were kidnapped through the Federal Government’s determined effort should give confidence that all “hope is not lost”.

“President Buhari re-affirms that the government remains focused and determined to see the girls return to their homes, urging the parents to be expectant of more good news in due course.”

Buhari further said in the statement, “We are concerned and aware that it is taking long to bring the rest of our daughters back home, but be assured that this administration is doing its very best to free the girls from their captors.

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“Unfortunately, the negotiations between the government and Boko Haram suffered some unexpected setbacks, owing mainly to a lack of agreement among their abductors, whose internal differences have led to a divergence of voices regarding the outcome of the talks. We know that this is not the news parents want to hear after four whole years of waiting, but we want to be as honest as possible with you.

“However, this government is not relenting. We will continue to persist, and the parents should please not give up. Don’t give up hope of seeing our daughters back home again. Don’t lose faith in this government’s ability to fulfill our promise of reuniting you with our daughters.

“Don’t imagine for a moment that we have forgotten about our daughters or that we consider their freedom a lost course.”

 

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