Report says FG has barred freed Chibok girls from talking to parents about their experiences

The federal government has reportedly barred the freed Chibok schoolgirls from telling their experiences while in Boko Haram captivity to their parents and relatives, an uncle to one of the recued Chibok girls has alleged.

“There is something that the Federal Government does not want us to know”

This allegation was made by Peter Joseph, who said one of his nieces was among the 21 Chibok schoolgirls rescued in October 2016, when he spoke during a programme on Al Jazeera entitled, “The Stream.”

According to Joseph, the 21 girls rescued over six months ago, are yet to unite with their families, except in December last year, when the girls were allowed to return to Chibok but were kept in a government facility where their parents visited them.

“I think there is something that the Federal Government does not want us to know and that is why they are keeping them away. Even when they [the schoolgirls] travelled to Chibok, they were not allowed to go to their houses.

“They were kept in government facilities in Chibok and anyone who visited them was made to sign a register, state the village where they came from, whom they wanted to see and then a time limit was given, after which you were asked to leave and there were certain things that you were not allowed to ask the girls.

“You can’t ask them about their experiences in Sambisa Forest. I mean, we don’t get it. Even now that 82 girls have been rescued, what has the government done about them? Up till today, the families have not met the girls,” he said.

Criticising the Minister of Women Affairs, Aisha Alhassan, Joseph said, “The Women Affairs minister is not saying the truth about this. What does she mean by the girls can leave at any time when they don’t even allow family members or people that are concerned about them to come close to them?

“I wish she was here so that I would be able to ask her some questions personally because this thing has been bothering us the members of the family. The fact still remains that the Nigerian government needs to be open to the family members; the government needs to be open to everyone that is concerned.

Read also: FG to swap more Boko Haram terrorists for Chibok girls

“We don’t get it. I mean, are you trying to hide something? Is there something they don’t want us to hear from the girls? What are they hiding from us?”

Fearing the girls may have been transferred from Boko Haram captivity to government captivity he said, “Nobody is allowed to see them. So, it’s like another imprisonment, but this one has to do with the government.”

The 21 girls were released in October before the recent release of another 82.

Alhassan had during the week denied allegations that the parents of the 21 released girls are being denied access to the girls.

She explained that they are only kept temporarily away from the media for some time to avoid some questions that they might be asking them, adding that the girls are now fit to return home but that before government will allow them to go home, it must ensure that they forget all the traumatic experience they passed through while in the bush.

 

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