FG knows where our girls are – Chibok community
September 6, 2016
Niyi Odebode, Everest Amaefule and Adelani Adepegba
The Chibok Community in Borno State has said the Federal Government and the military knows where the girls are being kept by Boko Haram.
The community dismissed claims by the government that there was no credible intelligence on the location of the girls, stressing that the government had seen three videos, as well as information on the girls’ whereabouts.
The spokesperson for the Kibaku Area Development Association, (Chibok community), Dr. Manasseh Allen, said this in an interview with one of our correspondents on Monday.
He stated that the parents of the abducted girls would continue to demand the release of the girls from the government.
He said, “As far as we are concerned, the Nigerian government and the Nigerian military know where the girls are long before today because the first video was released, the second video was released and the third video was released. Amina Ali escaped and she told them where she had been all these years and since she escaped, she was debriefed that same day.
“After escaping from her abductors, she had provided enough information for the Nigerian government to know where the girls were being held all these while. Even if not all of them, at least the people she had been with over the past few years, she knew them.”
Allen, whose nieces were among the abducted girls, said the government had frustrated several moves to negotiate with the sect for the release of the girls.
He said, “We are not after where the girls are or whether the government knows where the girls are or not. Our demand has been one: the insurgents have been reaching out to Nigeria on the issue of swap and it is the same government that has been thwarting the swap move. So, what I can conclude is that the government knows where the girls are and what we are saying is, we want our girls back.”
Asked if the government or the military was benefiting from the insurgency, Allen declined to respond to this.
Attempts to speak with Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, proved abortive as calls to his mobile phone rang out. A text enquiry sent to his mobile phone was yet to be replied as of the time of going to press.
But the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, had in an interview last month said the military had no intelligence on whether the Chibok girls were in Sambisa Forest or not.
Abubakar said the Nigeria Air Force was working round the clock to rescue the girls and other Nigerians abducted by Boko Haram.
Responding to a question on if the NAF had any intelligence on whether the Chibok girls were in the Sambisa Forest or not, Abubakar said, “Honestly, we don’t. That is the truth of the matter. Even if you see women that are dressed in hijab, how are you sure they are women, that they are not men?”
BBOG to protest today
Meanwhile, the #BringBackOurGirls coalition will on Tuesday (today) hold a protest in Abuja.
The group, in an interview on Friday said it was concerned by what it perceived as ‘benumbing apathy’ to the cause of rescuing Chibok girls.
The group, will also for the fourth time march to the Presidential Villa, as part of measures to compel the Federal Government to negotiate with Boko Haram for the release of the over 200 abducted Chibok schoolgirls.
The group had on three occasions taken their protests to Aso Villa, but were prevented from reaching the seat of power by armed policemen who blocked the access road.
Undeterred, the BBOG members had held their sit-outs on the road where they reeled out their demands to the government, asking President Muhammadu Buhari to swap the girls for Boko Haram fighters in detention, use military operation or both.
The coalition had said it would continue to stage its protest every 72 hours until the government took definite decisions that could lead to the rescue of the girls who had spent 876 days in Boko Haram captivity.
The protest that was planned for last Friday was postponed to today.
Don’t protest without permit, police tell BBOG
But the Federal Capital Territory Police Command has warned the BringBackOurGirlscoalition against staging a street protest without police approval.
It said that any group who wished to embark on a demonstration must apply to the FCT Commissioner of Police in writing and secure approval.
A statement by the FCT Police Public Relations Officer, Anjuguri Manzah, last night, said protest carried out in recent time in Abuja had obstructed traffic and created tension.
The statement read, “These indiscriminate actions which are carried out in disorderly and sometimes riotous manner create unwarranted tension and apprehension among law abiding citizens and in the process obstruct legitimate business activities.
“It is on this note that the command is making it clear that it will continue to be professional in discharging its constitutionally assigned roles in accordance with international best practices especially as it relates to the fundamental rights of citizens.
“However, the Command will not fold its arms and watch some individuals or group of persons tamper with the existing peaceful atmosphere in the Federal Capital Territory.
“The command hereby advises any person or group of persons who wish to embark on any demonstration to notify the Commissioner of Police FCT in writing and secure approval.”
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