THE MISSED OPPORTUNITIES TO RESCUE THE CHIBOK GIRLS
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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THE
MISSED OPPORTUNITIES TO RESCUE THE CHIBOK GIRLS
Saturday, October 5, 2019 marked 2,000
Days since 276 schoolgirls were
abducted from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State by Boko
Haram.
§
57
girls escaped in the first 24 hours.
§
In
the last 5 years, 107 of the 219 girls held captive either escaped; were
released after negotiations; or were found after the army liberated the areas
where they were being held.
§
To
date, 112 Chibok Girls remain
captives of the terrorists.
The
Bring Back Our Girls movement decided to meet daily at the Unity Fountain in
Abuja after the first protest on April 30th because we believed we
needed to put consistent pressure on the President Goodluck Jonathan government
to find and rescue the Chibok Girls. Our initial engagements and responses
received had clearly indicated that the abduction was not taken seriously.
Our perception was
confirmed in the investigative piece published by the Wall Street Journal in
December 2017. Some excerpts from the article:
“To the surprise
of Obama’s Africa team, the abduction of an entire student body barely
registered in the press at home or abroad. In Nigeria, the reaction was muffled
by military leaders who informed their president the kidnapping seemed to be a
hoax.
‘We knew this was going to be big,’ said Grant T. Harris, Obama’s Africa
director. “But it was initially met with a deafening silence.’”
“The first lady’s
photo (May 7) would front nearly every Nigerian newspaper, blindsiding
President Goodluck Jonathan, whose military still suspected the kidnapping had
never happened. Facing an unprecedented form of public pressure from his most
powerful ally, Jonathan had few options. He accepted the White House’s request
to launch a rescue effort.”
“’We gave them a hammer, but they never picked it up,’ an American
officer said. ‘There wasn’t enough political will.’”
“The #BringBackOurGirls campaign had made Nigeria a magnet for reward
chasers and have-a-go heroes. The government fuelled the chaos by paying
millions of dollars for information that led nowhere. Reuben Abati, President
Jonathan’s spokesman at the time, acknowledged the search became a gold rush. ‘There
were too many actors working at cross-purposes,’ he said.”
In
his memoir, For the Record, former UK Prime Minister David
Cameron wrote that at the time of the abduction, British troops traced the
location of some of the girls and offered to help, but former President
Goodluck Jonathan refused. Even though Mr Cameron’s book was published on
September 19, 2019, this part of the book was highlighted as family, friends
and concerned citizens painfully marked 2,000 Days of the abduction.
In his
words, “As ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ campaign spread across the world, we
embedded a team of military and intelligence experts in Nigeria and sent spy
planes and Tornadoes with thermal imaging to search for the missing girls. And,
amazingly, from the skies above a forest three times the size of Wales, we
managed to locate some of them. … But Nigeria’s president, Goodluck Jonathan, seemed to be
asleep at the wheel. When he eventually made a statement, it was to accuse the
campaigners of politicizing the tragedy. And absolutely crucially, when we
offered to help rescue the girls we had located, he refused.”
However, in a swift
response, former President Jonathan issued a statement asserting that Mr
Cameron’s claims are inaccurate. He says, “In his book, Mr. Cameron failed to mention
that I wrote him requesting his help on Chibok. Why did he suppress that
information? I remind him that copies of that letter exist at the State Houses
in Nigeria and London. He never called me on the phone to offer any help. On the
contrary, I am the one that reached out to him.”
He also stated, “I
also authorized the secret deployment of troops from the United Kingdom, the
United States and Israel as a result of the Chibok incident, so how Mr. Cameron
could say this with a straight face beats me.”
A Nigeria Senator at
the time of the abduction has also supported Mr Cameron, stating that his
interaction with President Jonathan in the company of nine other Senators and
senior government officials showed clearly that the abduction was not being
taken seriously. In his words, “…We met him at the First Lady’s meeting room. His service chiefs, the
National Security Adviser (NSA), Inspector General of Police (IGP), Secretary
to the Government of the Federation (SGF) were also there. Pius Anyim, the then
SGF. President Jonathan made us believe all through the meeting that the Chibok
story was not real. It was staged. That it was politics. He tried very hard to
convince us. This was his mindset and he made no apologies about it.”
Our perceptions, the
Wall Street Journal article, a serving Senator’s recollections, that have not
been debunked, clearly support Mr Cameron’s assertions.
In
describing the fate of the Chibok Girls, Mr Cameron said, “Some of the girls have managed to escape
over the following four years, and others have been released, but over a
hundred are still missing. Once again. the combination of Islamist extremism
and bad governance proved fatal.”
The deadly combination
of bad governance and terrorism has been at the heart of our cry to Bring Back
Our Girls for over five years because if the government’s disposition to
security and human dignity is not reprogrammed, our girls will not return and more
of our children will continue to be abducted.
As a citizens-led movement, we are committed to reminding the government
of the day of its constitutional responsibility to make the security and
welfare of Nigerian citizens its priority. Today,
our core demand remains the same, relevant today as it has been on each of the over
2,000 days we have turned up in Abuja, Lagos, London, New York, Washington, DC and
all around the world, pressuring two consecutive Presidents of Nigeria to
rescue the remaining 112 Chibok Girls, Leah Sharibu and thousands of others
that remain in captivity.
For as long as they remain in
captivity, we shall continue to carry them in our hearts and make our voices
resound and reecho our cries of five years: “Mr President,
#BringBackOurGirls now and alive!”
What are we demanding?
#BringBackOurGirls Now & Alive
What are we asking?
The truth, nothing but the truth!
What do we want?
Our girls back now and alive!
When shall we stop?
Not until our girls are back and alive! Not without our daughters!
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria!
Signed:
For and on behalf of
#BringBackOurGirls Abuja Family
Florence Ozor
Gapani Yanga
Nifemi Onifade
For and on behalf of #BringBackOurGirls
Lagos Family
Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi
Aisha Oyebode
Ayo Obe
Babasola Olalere
F.T. Adebayo
Habiba Balogun
Monday Ojon
Ngozi Iwere
‘Yemi Adamolekun
Yemisi Ransome-Kuti
For and on behalf of #BringBackOurGirls New York Family
Debbie Almontaser
Dionne Boissiere
Donald Robotham
Iman Drammeh-Nur
Laurie Cumbo (New York City Council)
Marcia Fingal
Mojúbàolú Olufúnké Okome
Naomi Less
Pat Sellers
R. Evon Benson-Idahosa
Rodneyse Bichotte (New York State Assembly)
Ruth Messinger
Shahara Jackson
Sherrie Russell-Brown
Tania Darbouze
Tehilah Eisenstadt
For and on behalf of #BringBackOurGirls Washington DC Family
Omolola Adele-Oso
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