For
release on March 24, 2018
PRESS
RELEASE
MARCH FOR OUR LIVES
SOLIDARITY MESSAGE FROM PARENTS OF THE CHIBOK GIRLS
Speaking from the home of President Olusegun Obasanjo, with whom we have
a long-standing relationship, due to his work behind the scenes supporting
government efforts to secure the release of our children, we, the Chibok
parents, express our joy at the release of the Dapchi Girls, our sorrow at the tragic
loss of 5 girls, continued captivity of 112 of our daughters from Chibok, and 1
of our daughters from Dapchi.
The meeting with President Obasanjo is one of several meetings we will
be having to seek advice and counsel, to garner high level support for
unrelenting pressure to free our daughters.
Witnessing the happy return of the Dapchi girls by the government, has
given us renewed hope that we will soon be reunited with our daughters after 4
years of agonising separation.
Today, Saturday 24th March, students around America and the world
are raising their voices against violence in schools. They are tired of seeing their classmates
killed and living in fear. We, the Chibok parents, express our solidarity with
all other parents affected by shootings, killings, and kidnappings in schools
in Nigeria and elsewhere. We join the
students in their demands for a safe place to learn.
We believe these peaceful voices will galvanise action by the
government and political leaders to protect students, ensure Safe School
policies are implemented, and assure access to education without fear of
violence.
As we know, only too well in Nigeria, violence against students in
our country has assumed increasingly deadly dimensions.
§ On February
25, 2014, Boko Haram terrorists attacked Federal Government College, Buni Yadi,
Yobe State and killed 59
male students in cold blood. To date,
their families have not recovered, and no one has even been arrested for the
crime.
§ Barely two
months later on April 14, 2014, the same terrorists invaded Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State
and abducted 276 female students, our children.
While over 100 of the Chibok girls either escaped or were released
through negotiation, 112 of our daughters remain in the clutches of the
terrorists. There has only been one conviction in 2018.
§ In May 2017, six students of the Lagos State Model College,
Igbonla, Epe, Lagos State were kidnapped and
only released after 65 days of trauma for the students and their families.
§
Only
recently, on Feb 19, 2018, 110 students
of the Government Girls’ Science Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State were
kidnapped and held for 31 days. 5 girls
tragically lost their lives, and one girl remains in captivity.
We empathise with
the traumatized parents of the returned girls, the deceased girls, and Leah
Sharibu’s parents. Sadly, we are
intimately familiar, with what they are experiencing now. Twenty one days from now on April 14th,
2018 it will be exactly 4 years since our children were forcibly removed from
the school where we thought they would be safe.
We are glad that
our solidarity visit to Dapchi on Wednesday 21st March, coincided
with the safe return of 105 girls and one boy.
We pray that others will also be there to share in our own joy when our
girls come back home.
We call on national, regional and global influencers and authorities
to support the Nigerian government to bring our nightmare to an end, and to
take measures so that we can send our remaining children to school with peace
of mind, and give them an opportunity for a better future.
We thank President Obasanjo for inviting us to sit with him and benefit
from his advice and counsel. They say
that it takes a village to raise a child; we call on our entire nation to pray
for us and our daughters, to work together with the government, and use
whatever contacts and resources you have to urgently bring our girls home
safely before.
For:
Association of Parents of Chibok Girls
Signed:
Yakubu
Nkeki Yana
Galang Zanna
Lawan
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