Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja
The National Security Adviser (NSA), General Babagana Monguno (rtd), and service chiefs will today appear before the Senate to explain the reasons they have failed to rescue the school girls kidnapped in Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, two years after.
Making the announcement while presiding over the plenary yesterday, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, said senators would meet with the service chiefs behind closed-door today at 1p.m.
The scheduled meeting with the service chiefs is in accordance with the resolution passed by the Senate last Thursday in commemoration of two years anniversary of the kidnap of Chibok girls.
Last Thursday marked the second year anniversary of the abduction of 276 girls who were writing their Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE) in the school by Boko Haram insurgents.
However, 57 of the girls escaped, leaving 219 of them in Boko Haram’s custody.
The national Assembly had commended the Bring Back Our Girls group for what it described as its doggedness and consistency in the campaign for the release of the girls.
The upper chamber which said it empathised with parents of the girls, also charged security agencies to do everything humanly possible to ensure the girls are rescued just as it urged the Borno State Government to rebuild the school in the interest of students in the community.
Moving a motion on the prolonged hostage of the girls, Senator Dino Melaye (Kogi West), said the Senate was saddened by the continued captivity of the girls 731 days after their abduction.
He said whereas hope was raised on October 17, 2014, that the girls would be rescued following an announcement by the Nigerian Army of a truce between the insurgents and government agents, the hope was soon dashed as nothing came out of it.
Melaye regretted that beyond the videos released by the terrorists, none of the girls had been seen since April 14, adding that their families have continuously been traumatised by their long absence.
Noting that the abduction had taken toll on Chibok community, the senator observed that 18 of the girls’ parents and four members of BBOG group have died since the abduction.
Melaye who further said the incident had had a negative effect on “us as a people,” added that the situation had attracted international condemnation and outrage as a result of government’s slow reaction to the menace.
He also said it was disheartening to note that the girls were still at the mercy of their cruel abductors as he lamented the psychological trauma the parents go through everyday.
The lawmaker lamented that the dreams and aspirations of the girls have been turned into nightmares as he insisted that the only option available to security agencies is the rescue of the girls
