BBOG Movement Begins Global Week of Action Saturday

Bennett Oghifo

The BBOG Movement has said it would begin a major campaign tagged, #BringBackOurGirls #Day1000 Global Week of Action January 7 – 14, 2017 to press home their demand for the release the 195 Chibok Girls still being held by Boko Haram.

A statement by the group, friday, said “On Sunday, January 8, 2017, it will be 1,000 days since 276 schoolgirls were abducted from their school in Chibok, Borno State, Nigeria by terrorists on the night of April 14, 2014. 57 girls escaped within days of the abduction and 219 were taken into captivity.

“Since then, four girls have been found – September 24, 2014; May 18, 2016; November 5, 2016 and January 5, 2017. 3 of them have infants. The Federal Government with assistance from the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Swiss Government successfully negotiated the release of 21 girls on October 13th, 2016, one of whom has an infant. In the two years and nine months since their daughters were snatched away, 19 parents have died. 195 Chibok Girls remain in the hands of terrorists.”

Giving figures, the group said, “279 abducted; 57 escaped; four found; 21 released; four Infants with our girls; 19 parents are dead; and 195 still missing!”

They recalled that “10 weeks ago, when the 21 Chibok Girls returned, the Nigerian government said that based on their discussions, 83 more girls would return ‘soon’. Nothing has been said of them since that time.

“The BBOG Movement worries that the Nigerian government has, once again, relapsed to the same complacency, lethargy, and inertia that has been recurrent on this tragedy. What else explains the fact that despite all assurances that the release of another 83 Chibok Girls is being negotiated, there has been no further communication on the status of their release?

“We are doubly disappointed that the Federal Government contradicted itself by the recent declaration and celebration of the capture of Sambisa Forest as the end of the war. This action is contrary to the pledge that Mr President and the military have made repeatedly that they would not declare victory without the rescue of our Chibok Girls and all other abducted victims of terrorist abduction. Sambisa’s ‘Camp Zero’ is the same stronghold in which the Federal Government stated that the girls were being held and the 21 released were from there.

Should parents, communities, Nigerians and the world assume that the Federal Government has given up on the Chibok Girls and other abductees?

“As with the Jonathan administration, the Buhari administration’s response to issues about the Chibok girls is representative of its handling of other issues – insecurity, welfare of internally displaced persons, military welfare, corruption and poor governance.

“Painfully, #Day1000 of their tragic abduction is in two days and there has been no status report provided by the Federal Government. As such, we are constrained to resume our various activities to mark this tragic milestone, expecting Mr President to regard this #Day1000 milestone as an overdue time to bring this horrific saga to an end.

“We shall therefore carry out a series of activities for a period of one week to compel our Federal Government to accelerate the decision and actions necessary to bring back the rest of our Chibok Girls to an anxiously waiting nation. Our actions shall also serve to remind Nigerians and the international community about the continued state of insecurity in Nigeria.”

The ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ families in Abuja, Lagos, New York & Washington, DC, they said would embark on the following actions: Saturday, January 7th – Day 999

Lagos: Regular ‘Speak Out Saturday’ at Falomo Roundabout, Ikoyi. 11am – 1pm; Washington, DC: Helon Habila, author of ‘The Chibok Girls: The Boko Haram Kidnappings and Islamist Militancy in Nigeria’, will be in conversation with Emmanuel Ogebe, a Nigerian human rights lawyer and surrogate father to a few of the escaped girls who now live in the U.S. 5015 Connecticut Ave NW, DC 20008. 6pm, among others.