#BringBackOurGirls say President's comments, a campaign of calumny

Wednesday, July 16, 2014 10:05 pm

The #BringBackOurGirls campaign organisers on Wednesday in Abuja Nigeria’s capital city accused the Presidency of what it described as a campaign of calumny by government officials against the Citizens movement as they advocate for the rescue of the 219 school girls of abducted from Chibok Girls Secondary School in the last 3 months.

The protest against abduction of school girls by Boko Haram continues

It said the latest in this trend emanates from “the visit facilitated for the 11 parents and five escaped girls who visited Abuja to interact with girl-child education advocate Malala Yousafzai.”

In a statement jointly signed by the coordinator, Hadiza Bala Usman and Nigeria’s former minister, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, the #BringBackOurGirls Abuja Family said, within the last 24hours, the family has “observed with consternation the escalation of the pattern.”

“During the public speech by Ms. Malala she declared that she had received a promise by President Jonathan to meet with the 11 parents and five girls. The movement was not aware and neither was it part of the discussion of the said visit to our President.

“However, at the BBOG daily sit out, our movement was informed by the Chairman, Abuja Chibok community of the outcome of a meeting held with officials of the Presidency in Malala’s suite (immediately after her speech). He conveyed that they were informed at that meeting of a the scheduling of the visit to the President for the eleven parents and five girls at 4.00pm on Tuesday 15^th July 2014.

“Although some members of the movement were surprised at the sudden invitation to meet with the President, our leadership concluded that session by emphasizing that it was the absolute right of the Chibok community to decide on the matter. It is instructive to note that majority of those at the Unity Fountain on that day were visiting from the Chibok community and were mostly the ones who vehemently expressed dismay at the information from the Chairman. He then clarified on the manner the invitation was conveyed to him and the parents at that meeting and reassured his community that he would schedule an emergency meeting to discuss the matter further.

“On Tuesday 15^th July 2014, the leadership of our movement were invited to a meeting by the Chibok Chairman and the leadership of their development association with the eleven parents in attendance. At the meeting they conveyed to us their unanimous decision to request for a rescheduling of the Malala facilitated meeting with the President. They further informed us of their intention to reach out to the Malala team and officials of the Presidency to request for an expanded meeting within a sufficient time frame for necessary planning with the rest of their community in Chibok.

“We want to repeat for the avoidance of doubt that we are not responsbile for the cancellation of the meeting with the President by the 11 Parents and 5 escaped girls from Chibok as been insinuated by some Government officials

“As a movement, we wish to seize this opportunity to express our gratitude to Malala who helped amplify the advocacy for concerted efforts towards the rescue of our girls.

“Meanwhile, it is pertinent to firmly state that since the inception of our movement in April 2014, we have remained steadfast and adopted all means and channels of civil engagement in the advocacy of our singular issue, which is #BringBackOurGirls NOW and ALIVE.