Chibok Community has described as “totally misleading and unjust” the
allegations that proponents of the #bringbackourgirls forced families of
the abducted girls to boycott a planned visit to President Goodluck
Jonathan.
The community said the decision of the family of the abducted girls not to
attend the meeting with the President was purely based on the need to
reach out to other members and stakeholders to avoid any form of
suspicion.
As earlier reported by Pointblanknews.com, a new date of July 22 has been
set by the President to meet with the Chibok families.
However, a statement issued in Abuja today, the Chibok Community said
while it takes full responsibility for the botched visit to the President,
“it is without foundation to hold citizens’ platform #bringbackourgirls
for the decision of the 12 families.
The statement reads:
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:
1. The logistics and meeting between the twelve (12) fathers and five (5)
girls and Malala was facilitated by the Abuja Chibok Community and the
Citizens platform of BringBackOurGirls with our consent and on TRUST
considering their sustained and focused advocacy to Bring Back our
daughters.
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