The international coordinator #BringBackOurGirls group, Professor Obi Ezekwesili yesterday, expressed doubt of the rescue mission of the Chibok school girls abducted over 4 months ago has not been effective enough to rescue the harmless girls in the hands of their abductors.
She cited federal government’s position of not neither negotiating nor engaging in military action as not good enough.
Speaking to journalists at the group’s protest in Abuja to mark the 130 days in abduction of the Chibok girls, Oby Ezekwesili wondered why the government would refuse to engage in negotiation or military action in order to rescue the girls after such a long time.
She stated that it is never a sign of weakness for a government to engage in negotiation for the release of these girls rather, it would be an act of empathy and a sign of responsiveness to the plight of the families of these girls.In her words, “it was unfortunate that the government had said that there is a rescue mission but one would wonder how?“When you connect the dots, we don’t think that there is a rescue mission going on. When a rescue operation is going on, in the case of abduction, the rescue is always a military rescue or negotiation or sometimes the two. Each time we get government statement, it dismiss the options and we wonder what is happening,”On the report that the military knows where the Chibok girls are, she wondered why it was taking a long of time for the girls to be brought back to their families.“We don’t even see the evidence. About 219 girls are still in the hands of the terrorists and people have moved on as if nothing has happened. We need the girls to be rescued urgently from the den of the terrorists. We are not a weak country. We need to go in and make a statement that we are not a weak country. We want them rescued. We don’t want lies. We need the truth from government.She however, expressed optimism that the girls will be rescued, stating that “We are optimistic and no matter how others have moved on, we have refuse to move on. We will be pretending and lying to ourselves if we move on.“We saw how Boko Haram slaughtered 51 boys. Nothing has been done about it. When we remain silent when a bad thing happens, we empower the enemies to continue. We must rise up and speak against this,” she said.
