EMERGENCY DIGEST – The Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) movement says it supports the claim of David Cameron, former British prime minister, that bad governance caused the abduction and continued detention of the Chibok schoolgirls.
Boko Haram abducted 274 of the girls from their school in Chibok, Borno state, in 2014, but 112 are still in the custody of the insurgents.
In his memoir entitled ‘For The Record,’ Cameron alleged that ex-President Goodluck Jonathan did not give enough support to Britain as it made effort to rescue the girls.
He wrote that “the combination of Islamist extremism and bad governance proved fatal” in the incident, but Jonathan denied the claim, describing it as a lie.
Reacting to the confrontations between the two leaders, BBOG recalled that there have been media reports as well as claims by a senator indicting the Jonathan-led administration of the abduction.
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“Our perceptions, the Wall Street Journal article, a serving Senator’s recollections, that have not been debunked, clearly support Mr Cameron’s assertions,” the group said in a statement by Florence Ozor among other signatories.
“The deadly combination of bad governance and terrorism has been at the heart of our cry to Bring Back Our Girls for over five years because if the government’s disposition to security and human dignity is not reprogrammed, our girls will not return and more of our children will continue to be abducted.”
BBOG said it remains committed to reminding the federal government of its responsibility to make the security and welfare of Nigerian citizens its priority.
“Today, our core demand remains the same, relevant today as it has been on each of the over 2,000 days we have turned up in Abuja, Lagos, London, New York, Washington, DC and all around the world, pressuring two consecutive Presidents of Nigeria to rescue the remaining 112 Chibok Girls, Leah Sharibu and thousands of others that remain in captivity,” the group added.
“For as long as they remain in captivity, we shall continue to carry them in our hearts and make our voices resound and reecho our cries of five years: “Mr President, #BringBackOurGirls now and alive!””
