Following
our march to meet with President Jonathan, during which he was represented by a
delegation led by the Secretary to the Government, a speech was read on his
behalf advising our movement #BringBackOurGirls, Abuja Family: “...that
protests should be directed at the terrorists…”.
Last Monday May 26th , being the 27th day of our daily
gathering at the Unity Fountain and the 42nd day since the abduction day of our
girls, we observed a large contingent of a new group that arrived in over 30
Federal Government SURE P Buses with a message that aligned with what we had
been told during our meeting with the Federal Government delegation.
Understanding fully the constitutional guarantee of every
citizens’ right to their expression and to peaceful gathering, we continued
with our own meeting in a new location, having lost our usual spot to the new
group. Regrettably, we then witnessed patterns of escalating aggression
toward our group by this new group.
In our bid at stemming any further aggravation, we wrote a
Letter of Complaint dated 28th May to the Inspector General of Police and
the FCT Commissioner of Police which was duly received by their
respective offices. In our letter, attached to this Statement, we reminded the
Nigerian Police that we have been a group, which has conducted itself with
utmost civility in the course of our campaign for the abducted Chibok
girls. We asked the Nigerian Police Force to be available to reprimand
the aggressive group and remind them of the need to conduct themselves
similarly and to desist from any form of confrontation to our group.
Unfortunately, what we feared would happen unfolded, and
tragically with officers of the Nigerian Police Force looking on, thugs,
hooligans, miscreants dressed in the red, yellow, and white t-shirts with the
inscription: #ReleaseOurGirls
Boko Haram” burst upon our group breaking chairs, and bottles
on the heads of members of #BringBackOurGirls, Abuja, many of the women broke
down. They snatched phones and handbags of ladies in our group and also
attacked the local and international media correspondents, confiscating and
breaking their cameras. The police, at a point, arrested two of the
ringleaders, but before our very eyes, released them barely 10 minutes after.
By this Statement, we are calling the attention of the President,
the Federal Government and the international community to the descent to
anarchy against our group, which simply emerged as a women-led civil society
group driven by a response to the plight of the abducted Chibok girls and their
families.
We know that this is a violation of our fundamental right to
peaceful assembly and freedom of association, but we remain resolute in
standing with the Chibok girls. We invite every Nigerian with goodwill towards
the abducted girls to our daily events. Tomorrow, we shall stand in
solidarity with them through a National Symposium, which will be holding at
Thisday Dome, with live broadcast on Channels TV. We shall return to the
Unity Fountain on Friday, May 31, 2014 and will continue with our
daily advocacy. We shall continue to demand that those with the responsibility
to protect our lives and our welfare to
BringBackOurGirls.
Signed:
Hadiza Bala Usman
Obiageli Ezekwesili