BBOG Berates Buhari over Alleged Deceitful Speech on Chibok Girls

BBOG Berates Buhari over Alleged Deceitful Speech on Chibok Girls

Peter Uzoho

The BringBackOurGirls movement (BBOG), the main rights group fighting for the release of the other Chibok school girls currently in Boko Haram captivity, has berated President Muhammadu Buhari and his administration for issuing an alleged copied and deceitful statement claiming to have the abducted girls in mind.

The Abuja, Lagos and New York chapters of BBOG stated this in joint statement issued yesterday and signed by 13 of its members, as part of the activities marking the sixth anniversary of the abduction of 276 school girls from Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State.

Buhari had on Monday in a statement by his chief spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu, said the remaining Chibok girls in Boko Haram captivity would never be forgotten.

However, BBOG described as most sad and disheartening the alleged reproduction and presenting verbatim, the president’s last year statement on Chibok girls, with minor updates to deceive the public.

“Yesterday, on the eve of the abduction, the Presidency released a statement purporting to be President Buhari’s statement on this sixth year of the abduction of our Chibok girls, wherein he claimed to have not forgotten about them.

“It is most sad and disheartening that the administration copied the statement from last year verbatim and pasted with minor updates like the date to deceive the public. Nothing underscores President Buhari’s commitment to the return of our Chibok girls, and the condition of their families and community as this duplicitous action,” BBOG said.

The group recalled that of the 276 girls abducted by the terrorists, 164 had regained freedom while112 of them were still in the hand of their abductors, saying for the girls’ families and community, the agonising tragedy continued in a manner that has become far too familiar.

The BBOG said its position was anchored on some key issues which must be highlighted and never to be forgotten at the moment, among which it said, was the abnormality of a mass abduction and continued six-year captivity of 112 schoolgirls from Chibok.

The rights movement added: “In the six years since the abductions took place, 164 of the schoolgirls initially abducted have returned through a combination of escapes, releases and rescues while 112 of the Chibok girls still remain unaccounted for.

“The fact that 112 schoolgirls are missing will always represent a very dark period for humanity and our nation’s history because the search for education was met by the tragedy of a failure of governance. “After many failed promises in the journey to end the perpetual dishonour that befalls the Chibok girls, their families and this community, only one option exists and that is to #BringBackOurGirls.”

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