Women In Aviation Pray For Chibok Girls

By Chuks Okoh
Women in Aviation, an umbrella group of women professionals in the air transport industry yesterday held an inter-religious prayer session at the international wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos asking God to intervene in the release of abducted girls of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State.
Scores of women dressed in pink T-shirts with the inscription : ” Oh God rescue our girls”, gathered at an open field along the access road leading to the airport singing worship songs and committing the abducted girls to God’s hands.
Prayers were led by a Muslim cleric and a pastor who gave exhortation on the power of prayers, affirming that God would make it possible for the release of the girls.
The cleric condemned the activities of Boko Haram insurgents who abducted the girls saying the development “has drawn global outrage and engendered trauma for the parents and family members affected by the incident.”
“It is wrong to hold the school girls captive under the guise of forcing them to accept the Islamic faith. It is ungodly to hold anybody in captivity, as both the Christian and Islamic faiths frown at the use of force to convert anybody to their religion,” they said.
Also speaking, the director of human resources at the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Hajia Salamatu Umar-Eluma said women professionals in the aviation sector had resolved to join others in the world to ask God to intervene in the matter.
She said as mothers and professionals, the continued captivity of the school girls had caused the entire nation much harm, affirming that through prayers, the girls and the people on rescue mission would come out alive.
She said Women in Aviation would continue to seek God’s intervention in the affairs of the girls as well as encourage the families affected by the trauma to have faith that the matter would be resolved.
“We will continue to pray as mothers, so that God will touch the heart of the abductors to release the school girls alive to reunite with their families. As mothers and parents we remain traumatised by the activities of people hiding under the guise of religion to carry out evil. That is why we are praying to God to hear our prayers and rescue the girls and the personnel involved in the operations,” she said.
Also speaking, the president of Women in Aviation, Nigerian chapter, Mrs. Rejoice Ndudinachi said the women professionals had joined the global call for the rescue of the abducted girls.
She said with the power of prayers God would touch the abductors to release the school girls unhurt.
The women were drawn from aviation organisations including FAAN, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Nigerian Air Force (NAF), Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), and others.