200th day: Make rescue of Chibok girls top priority, Ezekwesili pleads
The rescue of the 219 girls abducted from Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State by insurgents of the Islamist Boko Haram group must take priority over every other activity, Bringbackourgirls campaigner, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili has said.
Speaking ahead of the 200th day today, of the abduction of the school girls, Mrs. Ezekwesili expressed sorrow over the continued abduction of the girls who she said, should not be allowed to abide a day longer in the captivity of the insurgents.
File photo: Leader of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign Oby Ezekwesili speaks as policewomen block supporters of the 219 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram militants from marching to the president’s official residence in Abuja on October 14, 2014. Nigerian police on Tuesday blocked supporters of 219 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram militants from marching on the president’s official residence on the six-month anniversary of the abduction. A wall of female officers in full riot gear formed the first line of a barricade in front of less than 100 members of the Bring Back Our Girls campaign, preventing them from setting out.AFP PHOTO
She rebuffed a direct response to the spate of political activities connected to the forthcoming elections saying tersely that every other thing was insignificant to the efforts to liberate the girls.
“As far as we are concerned, we are not looking at any other thing, we are just interested in the Federal Government living up to its responsibility, the need to rescue the Chibok girls,” Mrs. Ezekwesili a former minister of education and vice-president in World Bank said.
“Every other thing pales into insignificance to the lives of 219 citizens of Nigeria who should not be in the enemy’s den for 200 days now,” she reiterated.
276 girls of the Government Secondary School, Chibok were abducted by the insurgents on the night of April 14, 2014 in an operation that initially raised doubts among some sections of the government and the polity. 57 of the girls reportedly escaped from the captivity of the insurgents the abduction has drawn worldwide condemnation from all sections of the world.
Efforts by the government to rescue the girls have so far been unsuccessful despite the alleged deployment of international assistance from some western nations.
The Nigerian Chief of Defence Staff, AVM Alex Badeh had on October 17, 2014 announced a ceasefire with the insurgents in a move that was believed to be a step towards the release of the school girls, but the ceasefire has so far failed to lead to a truce with continued reports of attacks by the Boko Haram insurgents.
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