• Give FG 24 hours for news on students’ whereabouts
• Senate meets Jonathan as Mark, Tambuwal address protesters
• Borno residents, parents urge president to lead search
• We will get those girls, CDS promises
Nigerians in their hundreds protested in Abuja and Kano Wednesday over the scores of schoolgirls who were abducted from Government Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, more than two weeks ago, with protesters in the nation’s capital demanding that the federal government must provide concrete news in 24 hours concerning the fate of the girls or else the protests would be sustained.
But as the protesters staged their rallies, word came in that four more schoolgirls had escaped from their captors, bringing the total number of girls who fled captivity to 48.
The peaceful rally in Abuja, which was organised by Human Rights Agenda Network (HRAN), held up vehicular movement for two hours in the Three Arms Zone in the city.
Defying the heavy rain, the protesters who were drawn from all walks of life, commenced the march from the Unity Fountain, near the Transcorp Hilton Hotel at 3.13 pm and were led by the former Vice-President of the World Bank, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili.
Others who joined the march included the wife of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, Titi; wife of the former Chief Justice of the Federation, Mrs. Maryam Uwais; renowned civil rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), civil society activists; professionals; youth groups; and students.
Most of the protesters wore red tee-shirts and bore placards with messages: “Mr. President, Bring Back Our Girls”, "Rescue Our Chibok Girls, "Bring Back Our Girls” and “Our Girls Don't Deserve This”, etc.
Upon reaching the National Assembly complex, they were met at the entrance by Senate President David Mark, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal and his deputy, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha.
Mark, addressing the rally, said the lawmakers were also angry at the situation and were working round the clock with the security agencies to ensure that the girls are rescued.
“This is causing pain for all Nigerians. We need to treat this issue of Boko Haram like we are in a state of war, which is what we are in,” he said.
Mark, who said he and his colleagues were not bothered by the heavy downpour, said being soaked was nothing in comparison with the abducted innocent children. He regretted that the situation had taken this long without a solution.
“Our hearts are with you at this critical moment. The senators and members of the House of Representatives wept over this abduction. We have reached an unbearable stage. We can no longer tolerate this.
“We are drenched, totally soaked in the rain. It is better to be beaten by the rain and get our children freed from their captors. If it means standing in the rain until the girls are freed, we are prepared to do so.
“We are lost for words. We can only apologise that it is taking this long to get these girls released. We are not going to rest until the last of the girls is freed. All the security apparatus, all of us must get involved in this battle.
“There is no mistaking the fact that we are in a state of war. With God on our side, we shall triumph over evil,” he said.
The tormented women, most of whom wailed uncontrollably, asked the federal government to deploy everything within its resources to rescue the girls.
Also addressing the procession upon their return to the Unity Fountain, Ezekwesili, Uwais and others could not hold back their tears as they stood side by side the female relatives of some of the abducted girls.
Sarah Ishaya told THISDAY in Hausa language that three of her sisters were among the abducted girls, while Esther Emmanuel’s cousin was also a victim. Both women clad in purple traditional attire held onto each other as they wept.
Ezekwesili, in her address, said there had been no clear cut message from the government, adding: “It is necessary for us to register the pain and agony that we who are not even the biological mothers of the girls are going through, which cannot be compared to what their mothers and families are passing through.
“Until our daughters are found and delivered home alive, we would not say it is successful, we want results which is a search and rescue operation, we want to see our daughters back home.
“If within 24 hours, we do not see anything concrete, visible action different from what we have seen so far, we will come back to protest here tomorrow at the same time. If there is no clear message to the fact that our daughters have been found.
“This is Nigeria, we cannot act like a nation that has no capacity. We have to rally round because counter-insurgency is not government work alone. We will not keep quiet, we will not be imprisoned in our homes.”
Maryam Uwais, in her address, noted that the protest was not about religion or tribe, but about Nigeria.
“We are saying to them that we will stand with you until our daughters are found,” she said.
The father of one of the missing girls, Mr. Tsambido Hosea Abana, expressed appreciation to Nigerians for their support to ensure that the girls are found.
“Actually what happened that fateful day is that when the terrorists came, they overwhelmed the few security men that were there. They came around 11.45 pm and it was not until 3 am that they left. We tried our best to make contact for help but we could not reach anybody, as you know that Chibok has infrastructure deficiency.
“Right now, we have about 52 girls that have returned and the problem is that nobody is even interviewing these girls even though most of them are still traumatised.
“Nobody can authoritatively know the current location as the military is working on their own without telling us anything. However, the girls who escaped gave information of the villages and locations because they knew the locations where they were initially taken to but nothing has been done since then,” he explained.
Chairman of the House Committee on Diaspora, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, also spoke with THISDAY, saying: “Whatever strategy government is using is not working. It is not working and government needs to change their strategy.”
The Executive Director at the Africa Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development, Dr. Otive Igbuzor, also lauded the rally for having united Nigerians in the face of divisive manipulations by the political class.
The abduction, he said, should be a wake-up call to the government and Nigerians that terrorism is not to be toyed with.
However, the rain affected the rally as many of the protesters left. The timing may also have affected the turnout as many residents of the city had expected it to hold in the morning.
THISDAY reporters who were at the Unity Fountain by 8 am yesterday observed that several people turned back in disappointment when they got to know that the rally was scheduled for afternoon.
Despite the slight setback, the rally enjoyed international coverage with the presence of several foreign media representatives.
There was also the heavy presence of armed policemen to provide security for the protesters.
THISDAY observed that the FCT Commissioner of Police, Mr. Joseph Mbu, was present all through the rally.
Officials of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) were also deployed to ease vehicular movement.
However, after the protest, the senate president last night led a 21-man delegation to President Goodluck Jonathan on the deteriorating security situation in the country.
Mark’s visit to Jonathan followed concerns expressed by senators on Tuesday during a debate on the abduction of the girls.
Those in the delegation were Senators Boluwaji Kunlere (Ondo South), Babafemi Ojodu (Ekiti Central), James Manager (Delta South), Helen Esuene (Akwa Ibom South), Enyinnaya Abaribe (Abia South) and Chris Anyanwu (Imo East).
Others included Senators Barnabas Gemade (Benue North-east), Ali Ndume (Borno South), Ahmed Zannah (Borno Central) Maaji Lawan (Borno North), Abdukadir Jajere (Yobe South) and Nenadi Usman (Kaduna South).
Also in the delegation were Senators Mohammed Magoro (Kebbi South), Bello Tukur (Adamawa Central), Bindowo Jubrilla (Adamawa North), Emmanuel Bwacha (Taraba South), Sola Adeyeye (Osun Central), Ahmad Lawan (Yobe North) and Ehigie Uzamere (Edo South).
While constituting the committee yesterday, Mark said: “As a result of our decision yesterday (Tuesday) on the abduction of the girls and the senators, I called in the morning, we will meet Mr. President at 10 pm tonight.
“If there is any change in schedule, I will let you know. If you can be in the (Presidential) Villa at 9.30 pm, it will be okay.”
Meanwhile, as the rally was ongoing in Abuja, another one took place simultaneously in Kano, where hundreds of women and men, under the aegis of Kano Civil Society Forum, staged a peaceful protest yesterday to Kano Government House, where they decried the abduction of the female students at Chibok.
The protesters, who were dressed in black, had converged on Pounded Restaurant along Lodge Road, Kano, with different placards, before marching to the Government House.
The forum, which comprises over 100 civil society groups led by Amina Hanga of Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative, said they took the decision to stage the protest in order to express their dissatisfaction with the way the rescue efforts of their kidnapped daughters were being handled by government.
“We don’t feel secure anymore because our daughters were carried away by the insurgents and we want to pressure government to intensify efforts and rescue them,” she said.
Hanga said: “We are unhappy with the situation. That is why we decided to stage a peaceful protest and also to submit our letter of protest to President Goodluck Jonathan through the Kano State Governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso.”
According to her, “The protesting civil society groups collected signatories from the parents here in Kano who expressed their sadness over the incident; we will not fold our arms and allow the abducted girls remain with their abductors.”
Hanga also appealed to the government to intensify efforts and ensure that the abducted girls are set free from the insurgents.
THISDAY observed that some of the protesters comprised elderly women who were brought on wheelchairs. Some were seen shedding tears, while others walked without shoes.
Responding to the protesters, Kwankwaso assured the protesters that their protest letter will be forward to the federal government.
With the agitation for the rescue of the schoolgirls spreading nationwide, Borno State residents have called on the president to lead the military in the search for the abducted schoolgirls in the notorious Sambisa forest, where some of them are believed to be held captive.
Residents of the state and the parents of the girls, who spoke to journalists yesterday, said it was glaring that nothing concrete was being done to free the students from their abductors more than two weeks after their abduction.
They said the only way for Nigerians and the rest of the world to know that the country had not given up in the search was if the president could breathe life into the search by first visiting the school where the students were abducted and then wear military camouflage to really indicate that he is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and lead his team to free the children.
One of the parents, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “The president should learn the act of motivating his citizens and gauging the mood of the nation.
“Some women the other time clad in black told Nigerians that they were willing to storm the notorious Sambisa forest for the abducted schoolgirls and the rest of the nation applauded their courage, what stopped the first lady, Patience Jonathan, volunteering to lead the search party?
“Let her stop all this adverts on the television portraying her as ‘Mama Peace’ and lead by example by leading the women who she claims to be leading in search for their daughters.”
A resident of Maiduguri, who simply identified himself as Babagana, said: “If I am the president, I will put on the military camouflage and lead the military into Sambisa.”
He added that it was however “unfortunate that I am not the president and our president does not know what will send the right message to everyone and even the insurgents and the military in the field fighting for Nigerians.”
Babagana said the president should have taken his lessons from former United States President George Bush (Jnr.) who was able to show the mood of the country during the 9/11 attack, and gave everything to go after the terrorists.
A soldier, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity with journalists in Maiduguri, agreed with the agitation of residents of the state, noting that the president’s presence, even in Maiduguri, let alone Chibok, would do the magic, as the troops would come to the full realisation that they are on an important mission for their fatherland and would be ready to even sacrifice their blood.
He said: “If the president now goes the extra mile and wears the military camouflage even to the periphery of Sambisa Forest, the entire armed forces will not be under any illusion that this is a sectional battle but a war that the country must win.
“This will equally tell the service chiefs and all heads of security agents that there is no more hiding place and that the president means action.”
Also, more parents of some of the abducted girls, who spoke from Chibok on the phone, said they were fast losing hope that their daughters might return to them in one piece.
One of them said: “It is now 15 days after the kidnapping and we are still in the dark as far as efforts being made to get our children freed are concerned. All we have been hearing is that they have been married off and sexually maltreated.”
Another parent asked: “Do we have a government in this country at all that could be relied upon to protect all of us? My daughter as well as over 200 others have been in the hands of hoodlums in a specified forest for 15 days now and we pride ourselves as having one of the strongest armies on the African continent.
“How strong does a military need to be to free over 200 schoolgirls from the arms of disgruntled ragtag militants?”
Also, the Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, yesterday picked holes in the philosophy of the outlawed Boko Haram sect which claims to be fighting a holy war, insisting that the claim was rubbish as women are supposed to be protected even during war.
The governor said this at the swearing-in of a new Grand Khadi, Umar Ramat Munkaila, and two permanent secretaries yesterday in Maiduguri.
He said: “In Islam, a woman is supposed to be treated as gold. Islam requires that a man should be the one to prepare meals and serve a woman; when a woman chooses to cook, she should be paid for cooking that meal unless she forfeits being paid and offers to serve the man out of her own will and without any charge.”
According to the governor, “Allah might have made the Prophet (SAW) to have only one surviving child who happened to be a woman probably to underscore how precious a girl-child is. Allah has created the girl-child with very enduring love for her parents, brothers and sisters.”
He recalled a particular family whose daughters took care of their sick father till he died while the male child got tired and rarely visited their father on his sick bed before he died.
“The love of a girl-child to parents and relatives is everlasting. Ask those with loving sisters or daughters about the benefit of the girl-child. He or she who doesn't have a girl-child is yet to test the endearing love of a child to parents and this is why you can imagine what the parents of those 200 girls are going through.
“We are all broken hearted at this time in our dear state because as we speak, over 200 daughters of Borno, 200 young schoolgirls with what should have been a promising future, are being detained somewhere by our fellow men who claim to be devoted Muslims, whereas Allah who created all of us has mandated us to protect women, to support them, to serve them with special attention and to even spare them during Islamic holy wars that the Boko Haram claims to be fighting,” he added.
Shettima appealed to the new Grand Khadi to carry other khadis along and work as a family so that the panel, which comprises the three khadis would be a harmonious one that would ensure disposition of justice in accordance with the provisions of law.
Munkaila was elevated from the State Sharia Court of Appeal, while the new permanent secretaries are Alhaji Adamu Idrisa Timta and Abba Kaka Abba Jato.
In a related development, the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Vice Marshal Alex Badeh, yesterday in Abuja pledged the commitment of the military to rescue the abducted girls.
Speaking during the visit by the board of the National Oil Spillage Detection and Regulation Agency (NOSDRA) to the Defence Headquarters (DHQ), Abuja, Badeh said the situation in the North-east had become critical, following the kidnapping of the girls by the sect.
He said notwithstanding the present situation, “We are hoping, we are praying that while we are fighting, we can get over this madness.”
“It is not about the number (of girls) that really matters but the fact that people’s children have been abducted, where we are giving lead information. However, we can't go with our armoury to bombard the place, because if we go in such a manner, we could go and kill the girls. But I know we will get those girls,” Badeh added.
He described the barbaric acts being committed by the Boko Haram sect in northern Nigeria as “pure madness”, adding: “What is happening in our country, most especially in northern Nigeria is pure madness, and killing the future of that region. It’s a pity, all of us here should sympathise with those of us from that region.”
Responding, the NOSDRA Board Chairman, Major Lancelot Ayanya, said considering the sophistication of the Boko Haram approach, “this is the time to unite” to confront the challenges.
While applauding the efforts of the armed forces, Ayanya deplored the antics of those who seek to “draw political benefits from the crisis by denigrating the services of the armed forces”.
Ayanya further explained that the visit to DHQ was premised on the need to device new strategies in combating oil spills and illegal crude oil refineries in the country, specifically in the Niger Delta.
Similarly, NOSDRA Director General, Peter Idabor, while soliciting the assistance of the military in policing illegal crude oil refineries in the Niger Delta, said the activities of criminals have continued to increase the danger of oil spills in the region and other parts of the country.
Idabor informed the CDS on the need for a memorandum of understanding that would bring about the establishment of a joint oil response military base between NOSDRA and the military in preventing oil spills and other nefarious activities in the delta region.
Despite the promise made by Badeh, four more of the abducted girls were reported to have surfaced yesterday after escaping from their captors without the intervention of the military.
The four girls were said to have been sighted around Monguno in the northern part of Borno State, lending credence to earlier claims that the abducted schoolgirls might have been moved from the Sambisa forest in the southern part of the state, to another stronghold of the insurgents.
A credible source, who spoke to journalists in Maiduguri, said the girls were rescued by some good Samaritans in a village near Monguno Council Area last Sunday, before they were handed over to security operatives in Maiduguri, the state capital.
The Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, also confirmed this while speaking on the BBC Hausa Service monitored in Maiduguri. He revealed that the girls were hale and hearty.
According to Moro, the girls are now in the custody of security forces and would be handed over to their parents.
“Information reaching me from the area indicates that four more girls escaped from captivity and they are healthy. Security forces are presently trying to identify their parents so that they can be reunited with them,” he said.
The minister faulted the claims that the federal government was not doing enough to rescue the girls, describing the allegation as baseless.
“Government is doing everything within its powers to ensure that the girls are freed unhurt. People should realise that security agents need more time to do the job and they have to be cautious so as not to endanger the lives of the girls in the process of the rescue operation,” he explained.
However, the source said the four girls who were smuggled out of Sambisa forest en route Monguno, were rescued by villagers.
“In fact, the girls, who looked traumatised and frustrated were sighted around the outskirts of Monguno. Only one of them managed to talk as she said they were students writing their final year exams in Chibok but were kidnapped by unknown gunmen.
“She said when four of them fell ill during their movement to an unknown destination, they were abandoned by their captors in the bush, before being rescued by some villagers,” the source said.
When newsmen sought the reaction of the caretaker chairman of Chibok Local Government Area, Mr. Ba’ana Lawan, he said: “Yes, I also heard that four of the abducted schoolgirls have been found in Monguno before they were handed over to the security operatives.
“I was told that they are currently receiving treatment at one of the hospitals in Maiduguri due to the condition they found themselves in.
“I quickly rushed to the hospital to verify the important information, but I was disappointed as I was not allowed to see or know the whereabouts of the girls by security men and the hospital authorities.”
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