Borno Governor, Shettima, Compromises Chibok Parents To Disown Ezekwesili
Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) campaigner[/caption]
Indications have emerged that parents of the missing Chibok girls may have been compromised by Governor Kashim Shettima to disown one of the conveners of the Bring Back Our Girls campaign, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili and the group.
The governor’s intervention may explain why the parents of the missing girls did not join the protest march that took place on Monday in Abuja.
The Whistler learnt that the high ranking officials of the Borno state government met with some of the Chibok parents to impress on them not to cooperate any long with the #BBOG campaigners as the present regime was making headway in finding the girls, a source said.
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This is however against the take of President Muhammadu Buhari who gave the hint in a meeting with former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon that his regime does not know the where about of the missing girls.
Gowon who had a closed door meeting with Buhari at the Villa on Monday said: “I believe that the government is certainly determined to ensure that a number of these girls are brought back home safely as soon as possible. To achieve that, certain credibility must be established of our sources on information on their location, but as at now, no one knows where these girls are, and all this information that you have been getting, I don’t know their sources, but all efforts at engaging the international media and sources are necessary so that this matter can be resolved once and for all.”
Furthermore, Yakubu Nkeki, the leader of the missing girls’ parents who lives in Chibok, was quoted by NAN in a telephone interview that they as parents of the abducted girls during a meeting in Chibok had decided they would no longer attend #BBOG protests.
“All we want is our missing daughters and we are willing to work with anybody who will help us find our daughters.
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“We do not want to do anything that the government will not be happy about,” said the women leader of the group, Yana Galang.
“We are not after any organisation that is against any party or religion, and we are supporting the federal government to help us release our girls,” she added.
The parents described the unpleasant experience they had during their last protest march in Abuja, when angry comments made by some of the activists who accompanied them to see the president irritated President Muhammadu Buhari to the point where he spoke sharply and dropped his microphone.
“Our own is that we want our daughters,” said Zannah Lawan, the secretary of the parents association.
“Anyone who has the ability to help us to find our daughters is the person we will work with,” he said.
