‘Release Them to Us, If They Are With You’
Parents, Nigerians Want Answers to New Twist – BBOG
Parents of more than 200 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram in 2014 have refuted claims by Reuben Abati, presidential spokesperson under ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, that the Federal Government under the former leader had rescued many of the girls.
The former aide had disclosed, during a television interaction with Femi Adesina, President Muhammadu Buhari’s special adviser on media and publicity, on Wednesday, that the girls were sent to study in the United States and the United Kingdom after their release.
He said the then National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki, advised Jonathan against publicising the release so as not to reveal the girls’ identities.
He asked Adesina to verify his assertion from the DSS and the nation’s intelligence agency.
While the two security outfits have yet to react to Abati, the chairman of Chibok Parents’ Association, Yakubu Nkenke, yesterday denied that any of the Chibok girls was found by the Jonathan administration.
He said it was under the present administration that secured the release of 107 of the girls from the captors.
Nkenke said even Amina Ali, the first among the abducted girls to be found, breathed the air of freedom after Buhari came to power.
The parents expressed disgust at such a comment, saying Abati could only make sense if he meant that he and other officials of the Jonathan government freed some of the girls and held them away from their parents.
“Does he mean they rescued some of the Chibok girls and are keeping them somewhere? If that is what he means, then they should immediately release the girls to us.
“What we know is that the Buhari regime negotiated for and secured the release of all the girls we have with us now. Soon after their release, I was called to Abuja to identify them. These girls are currently at the American University of Nigeria, Yola under federal government’s full scholarship.”
Nkenke called for continued efforts on the part of the Federal Government to free the remaining 112 girls still in captivity, saying some of the parents were traumatized while 32 had died.
“We thank Baba Buhari for his commitment to get the girls, yet we call for more efforts to free the remaining girls,” he said.
Also refuting the claims, the of the Chair #Bring Back Our Girls Strategic Team, Flourence Ozor, said yesterday that group was not made aware of such a development.
“All we know is the number of girls that have been released under Buhari administration and we are not aware of this development,” she said.
Ozor also said that no parents told the group that their daughters have been found, adding that “I really don’t understand what the motive would be. How would you secure children from terrorists and the parents and the nation are not aware and you just sent them abroad? There is more to what they are telling us. It will be good if they can make it public because the parents and the nation need to know.”
But Abati had said he was present when some of the rescued girls were brought to meet Jonathan.
“There was headway. We rescued many of the girls but the advice from the NSA at the time was that we should not publicise it because of the identities of those girls. I witnessed it on many occasions. Those girls were brought to the president.
“He met with them. In fact, some of them were sent to schools in the United States and United Kingdom. There were strict instructions not to publicise it because government thought that the identities of those girls should not be exposed. But l saw you guys making a dance out of the ones you rescued.
“In our time, we rescued some girls but we were under strict instruction not to publicise it. Check the records. The DSS, the intelligence agency, you should ask them. They will have the records,” he said.
