We the members of the Kibaku (Chibok) Community and representatives of the 12 fathers and 5 escaped girls who were hosted by Malala during her visit to Nigeria hereby speak on their behalf to offer to Nigerians the facts as they are and to put the records straight and correct the erroneous impression making rounds in the media on the botched meeting with the President: Continue...#Bringbackourgirls group also released a statement regarding this. Continue...
2. These
parents and escaped girls did not come to Abuja at the instance of government
or its representatives for a meeting with Mr. President but on the full
understanding that they were coming to meet with Malala; an advocate of girl
child education and most importantly one who has suffered a similar fate as
their daughters’.
3. That
in the course of the interactions with Malala, NEITHER the parents nor the
escaped girls asked for a meeting with the President or any government
functionary, rather the narrative back home was to persistently ask why the
President has not visited them in Chibok since the abduction.
4. It is
obvious that their numbers of 12 fathers and 5 girls is about 2% of the parents
of the 219 abducted girls still with their abductors and the 57 girls that
escaped. Therefore, these parents DECIDED on their own accord to review the
announced visit, which they FIRST heard of like every other person during
Malala speech in Hilton.
5. That
consequent to their decision to revert to other family members in order to
incorporate every stakeholder on the matter as well as avoid discord and
suspicion on a change of plans from the original mission to Abuja, they reached
out to the Malala team and through them to the Presidency; to request for a new
date for an expanded and more representative meeting that has a legitimate
mandate to meet with the President.
6. That
their request is also in recognition of the huge opportunity of a meeting with
the President for the first time and after over 90 days of the tragic abduction
of their daughters, and therefore required better consultations, structure and
formality as against an instant advocacy request.
7. That it is totally misleading,
unjust and without foundation to hold the Citizens’ platform BringBackOurGirls
responsible for the decision made by the 12 parents and our community. We therefore
take full responsibility for our decision and welcome the formal invitation by
the Presidency as a follow up to Malala’s visit which we received this morning.
Thank You.
For Further Inquiries, contact the PRO on 08055606677.
Press statement from #bringbackourgirls conveners...
Response to Malicious Falsehood on Chibok Parents Visit to President Goodluck Jonathan
In
the last 24hours, the #BringBackOurGirls Abuja family has observed with
consternation the escalation of the pattern of the campaign of calumny
by Government officials on our Citizens movement advocating for the
rescue of the 219 school girls of abducted from Chibok Girls Secondary
School, 93 days ago. The latest in this trend is emanating from the
visit facilitated for the 11 parents and five escaped girls who were
visiting Abuja to interact with girl-child education advocate Malala
Yousafzai.
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 15th 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 15th
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
Signed
Hadiza Bala Usman & Obiageli Ezekwesili
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