'Those who say we are aloof are not truthful' – Jonathan tells Chibok Parents

'Those who say we are aloof are not truthful' – Jonathan tells Chibok Parents

Tuesday, July 22, 2014 7:21 pm


A few hours before Day 100 since the abduction of More than 200 school girls in Nigeria’s Chibok community, President Goodluck Jonathan Tuesday in Abuja, has said “Anyone who gives you the impression that we are aloof and that we are not doing what we are supposed to do to get the girls out is not being truthful.”

Speaking at a closed door session with parents of the abducted girls that lasted about 4 hours at the Presidential Villa in Nigeria’s capital city, Pres. Jonathan reiterated the administration commitment in bringing back the missing girls.

The President said the administration is doing everything humanly possible to rescue the over 200 girls abducted from a college there in April and return them safely to their parents, according to a press statement by Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati.

Chibok Community leaders and some of the girls who escaped from their captor in the Chibok forest, were also at the meeting with the President Jonathan in Aso Villa.

President Jonathan appealed for patience, understanding and cooperation of all.

“Our commitment is not just to get the girls out, it is also to rout Boko Haram completely from Nigeria. But we are very, very mindful of the safety of the girls. We want to return them all alive to their parents.

“If they are killed in any rescue effort, then we have achieved nothing,” President Jonathan told the Chibok parents and community leaders.

The President said that although he was yet to visit Chibok in the aftermath of the abductions, his heart was constantly with its traumatized parents and people, and his desire was to visit them when their daughters have been freed and they can receive him with smiling faces of joy, rather than with tears of anguish.

“Our duty now is to take all relevant steps to recover our girls alive and our primary interest is getting them out as safely as possible. I will not want to say much, but we are doing everything humanly possible to get the girls out.

“This not the time for talking much. This is the time for action. We will get to the time that we will tell stories. We will get to the time that we will celebrate and I assure you that, by God’s grace, that time will come soon,” President Jonathan told them.

Responding to appeals from the community leaders for more help in overcoming some of the challenges imposed on Chibok and neighbouring communities by the Boko Haram insurgency, the President said that the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and Federal Medical Agencies will intensify their efforts to provide them with additional relief aid and assistance.

He assured that Chibok and other communities in the three North-Eastern States most affected by the Boko Haram insurgency will be the first beneficiaries of the Victims’ Support Fund, the Presidential Initiative for the North-East, the Safe Schools Initiative and other developmental programmes which the Federal Government is evolving to address the damage, losses, setbacks, economic and social dislocations occasioned by the Boko Haram insurgency.

“We solicit your maximum cooperation. Let us work together. Evil can never overcome good. We will surely overcome Boko Haram,” President Jonathan said appealin for the fullest possible support from all in other to address the problems caused by terrorism and the Boko Haram insurgency.

The Borno state Governor Kashim Shettima who was at the meeting with Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State and the Senate President, Senator David Mark, called for sobriety, reflection and unity of purpose in the fight against terrorism in the country.

Dr. Pogu Bitrus presented the Chibok community’s address to the President.

“Other speakers at the meeting included a district head, Mr. Zannamadu Usman, a member of the Borno State House of Assembly, Hon. Aminu Foni Chibok, parents of the abducted girls and three of the girls who escaped from their captors, Godia Simon, Dorcas Musa and Joy Bishara,” said the statement.

National Security Chiefs, Ministers and other senior government officials were also present at the meeting.

There are however plans by the #BringBackOurGirls Campaign group, to stage a peace protest on July 23, which marks Day 100 since the abduction of the girls.


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