By Ayoni M. Agbabiaka
Abuja
Several individuals have joined the #BringBackOurGirls (#BBOG) group to call on the federal government to increase its efforts at rescuing the remaining Chibok school girls and other Nigerians held in captivity as only 11 per cent of the Chibok girls have been rescued.
The personalities, including the Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, and Prof. Grace Alele- Williams, said the issue of the girl-child should remain at the front burner.
#BBOG said: “Only 11 per cent are back (24 girls out of the over 200); 19 of them are dead. Many of their parents are battling with high blood pressure. The pains of the parents cannot be quantified in the last three years.”
It, therefore, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to visit the North-east, saying that “it is time to charge our military. It is time to visit Chibok. 21 (girls) have been returned, three have been rescued; I95 still in captivity.”
The Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who was represented at the inaugural Annual Chibok Girls Lecture by his daughter, Shaida Sanusi, said: “The discourse on girls and forced marriage is a discourse that raises questions of governance. It is a call to all in government, Civil Society Organisations to bring these issues to the table until they are resolved.”
Their parents also called on the federal government and the international community to rescue the girls, saying that the federal government’s delay in rescuing the girls was due to their poor status.
One of them, Rebecca Samuel, who spoke on behalf of other parents, said each time she watched television; she was always looking forward to seeing her daughter, adding that she would have preferred her daughter dead than being in captivity.
“What stops the Nigeria Army, the Nigeria police and all those in one uniform or the other from bringing back our girls? It’s three years, why have they not brought back our girls. It’s a shame. It’s our arms less powerful…why do we sit down here three years which present us as laughing stock?”
