Thursday 30th April 2015
The Rescue of 200 Girls and 93 Women From Sambisa Forrest on April 28, 2015
We received with great excitement news of the rescue by the Nigerian Army of 200 girls and 93 women held in captivity in Sambisa Forest by Terrorists. We naturally like most people assumed that the 200 girls are part of our 219 Chibok Schools that our movement has been advocating to be rescued since April 30th 2014, one year ago. However, we were surprised when the spokesperson of the Nigerian Army, Colonel S. K. Usman, subsequently said that no Chibok Girl is among the 200 girls that the military conveyed had been rescued.
As a movement, we consider the rescue of fellow Nigerians who were deprived of their freedom a healthy development in the counter insurgency war. We are therefore overjoyed to welcome our dear citizens back to freedom. We have in the last one year of our Advocacy for our #ChibokGirls, persistently conveyed that we consider our #ChibokGirls the symbol of the suffering, killings, abductions, destabilization and degradation in the Northeast of our country. Although, like others, we often read news of random abductions before and after the massive scale of the abduction of our 276 school girls of Chibok. We never imagined that a rescue of this magnitude of abducted people is possible without been our #ChibokGirls. The reason for this is simple.
There was never a time in the last one year that the Federal Government or our military, directly executing the counter insurgency war informed the public that a large catchment of our citizens other than the Chibok Girls were in terrorist custody. So, we join members of the public in asking for an immediate verification and authentication of the 200 girls and the 93 women that were rescued. At the end of that exercise, which should not last more than this weekend, we expect the Federal Government to answer the following questions;
- From what part of the country were the rescued 200 girls and 93 women abducted?
- When were they abducted?
- Why and Who abducted them?
- How were they abducted?
- Was the original incident ever reported to or by our Security Agencies?
- Why were the public without information of his abduction?
- Can the public have more disclosure surrounding the events of the rescue mission?
- Were there casualties during the rescue exercise?
- Where were the terrorists that held the abductees in captivity?
- In what state were they found when the rescue took place?
Our advocacy has been a Citizens’ quest for truth. We have consistently demanded from our government the truth behind the information and the action taken in response to the acts of savagery taken against our people and our country. It is time for the public to be given only the truth on all matters concerning the counter insurgency.
We as a movement have designed a Verification, Authentication and Reuniting System that is holistic for Rehabilitation, Reintegration and Resettlement of victims of abduction. The key highlight would require Two Teams comprising;
- The Federal Government, led by the National Security Adviser, Leaders of the Counter Insurgency Task Force, the Department of State Security on one hand; and
- The State Governments of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, aided and supported by Local Authorities and Traditional Leaders, on the other hand;
Working with the abducted victims’ families and communities to accurately ascertain the true identity of every individual.
Following accurate identification, the comprehensive program for Recovery, Rehabilitation Resettlement and Reintegration of all the rescued 200 girls and 93 women should be implemented by both the Borno State Government and the Federal Government supported by development partners, NGOs and public spirited Nigerians. Our movement, #BringBackOurGirls, stands ready to support such a program immediately.
Finally, we wish to commend our Military and the Multinational Joint Task Force for the positive turn in the counterinsurgency effort since the six weeks operation started on February 14 2015.
We want to add that we consider the rescue of the 28th April 2015, as the clearest signal that our #ChibokGirls can and will be rescued. We recall our optimism that our #ChibokGirls will be rescued is further strengthened by the assurance of the National Security Adviser, Rtd. Colonel Sambo Dasuki, to the President on the One Year Commemoration of the their abduction that the military will dislodge the terrorist from Sambisa Forest and rescue our 219 #ChibokGirls.
We therefore demand of our Federal Government the doubling up of efforts in ensuring that, as promised by the National Security Adviser, our #ChibokGirls will be rescued before 29th of May.
For us, in the #BringBackOurGirls movement, there shall be no retreat no surrender of our advocacy until our #ChibokGirls are rescued by the government of Nigeria. Our demand shall remain “Bring Back Our Girls”. When asked when shall you stop? Our response will always be “Not until our girls are back”. When asked when shall you stop? We shall answer “Not without our daughters”.
#BringBackOurGirls Now and Alive! This is our solemn commitment.
Signed:
For and On Behalf Of BringBackOurGirls Group
OBY EZEKWESILI
HADIZA BALA-USMAN
