ABDUCTED SCHOOL GIRLS: COMMUNITY PREFER TO MEET JONATHAN IN CHIBOK

Leaders of Chibok community and representatives of the parents of over 300 abducted school girls resident in Abuja have said the community prefers the proposed 22 July meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan to take place in Chibok, Borno State.
The spokesman of the Kibaku people of Chibok, Dauda Iliya who made this known at a press conference in Abuja, said the parents and escaped victims of the abduction by Boko Haram expected the President to visit and console the bereaved in Chibok.
According to Iliya, “ordinarily we would have wished that this meeting held in Chibok, if you look at it, the custom for northern Nigerians and indeed most Africans is that when you have this kind of pain, it is akin to being bereaved truly, isn’t it?, you don’t go whoever it is, go ask for condolences, condolences come to meet you.” He however added that, “But you see the thing has become so complex now, 92 days we are praying for this girls to come back, we want government to tell us what they are doing, we can if you like wave our rights if this meeting will would in Abuja so be it.”
Iliya told journalists that the #BringBackOurGirls campaign in Abuja and the representatives of the Chibok people did not stop the parents of the girls attending an earlier unscheduled meeting with the President for political or malicious reasons. “Absolutely not true,” Iliya said, “you see there was a lot of a mishap in the entire thing, the Malala team working with some security agents and government agents, like they say locked the stables after the horse had escaped.”
“Meaning even without consulting and without getting the buy-in, they had made announcement and reached out and they thought it is going to be fait accompli and it did not happen,” he said.
Iliya added that, “There was no such a thing, the parents will not ask for such a thing to happen, these are the same parents who now said no! We are sorry, our mandate was not to come and meet any government official, talk less of going to the Villa.”
He noted that there are some trust issues to be maintained, “When they hear at home that of 219 then 11 or 10 have gone to see the President! For what? how?”
Also speaking, the Chairman of the Chibok community in Abuja Tsambido Abana said, “the parents were not allowed anytime to make a decision, it was when they were on the stage that this information came, that the President will meet with you, not that the President is asking for a meeting with you.”
“Then as we were still there, they were on the stage, when the speech was over, they were all carried to Malala’s room, not even giving the chance, not even allowing one of us to follow them,” he explained . Abana stated that, “It was until after five minutes when the parents insisted that one of our members in Abuja must be there, it was then they carried me up only me.”
They also stated that, it is misleading and without basis to hold the #BringBackOurGirls campaign for a decision made by 12 parents and their association, saying, “We take full responsibility for our decision and welcome the formal invitation by the Presidency.
Source: Daily Trust