President Muhammadu Buhari has said his administration was prepared to continue talks with Boko Haram to ensure the release of the remaining abducted Chibok girls “as long as they agree to involve foreign agencies like International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
The 21 Chibok girls who were among the 219 students abducted from the Government Girls’ Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State in April, 2014, tasted freedom last Thursday. One of the girls, Amina Ali, was in February rescued, bringing their number to 22.
The Federal Government had said the girls were released after successful negotiations led by an international Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO). The ICRC had provided immediate humanitarian assistance to the girls, who had spent over 900 days in the hands of their abductors.
Buhari gave the commitment yesterday when he met with the President of ICRC, Peter Maurer, at the State House, Abuja, where he commended ICRC’s role in the release of the 21 girls, urging it to sustain humanitarian interest in Nigeria.
“We’ve seen the result of recent talks, 21 of the Chibok girls are back,” adding that Nigeria’s biggest problem was perhaps the issue of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), noting that there were over two million of them, “made up of over 60 per cent women and children. About 60 per cent of the children don’t know their parents, or where they come from. It is weighing heavily on government,” he said.
Maurer said their operation in the Lake Chad region is the second largest in the world, after Syria, adding that there are nutritional, health, water and sanitation issues in the North-east, in addition to rebuilding of infrastructure.
Meanwhile, the BringBackOurGirls (BBOG) group has expressed shock at the use of its brand name at a fund raising event by Hadiza Buhari-Bello, President Muhammadu Buhari’s daughter.
At the event, which was held yesterday, the Peace Corps of Nigeria donated N3.5million to Africa Support and Empowerment Initiative, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) owned by Buhari-Bello as part of an endowment fund for the Chibok girls.
“Bringbackourgirls” was inscribed boldly on the backdrop of the event.
But the advocacy group, led by Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, has disassociated itself from the event, promising to issue a response through its lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN).
In a statement signed by Ezekwesili and Aisha Yesufu, the group said the organisers of the event were trying to smear its hard-earned name.
SOURCE: THE SUN
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