Wednesday, 17 August 2016

FG yet to contact Chibok parents



 The Federal Government has yet to reach out to Mr. and Mrs. Kabu Yakubu, the parents of Dorcas, who was identified in the video of the 218 abducted Chibok schoolgirls that was released on Sunday by Boko Haram.

It was also gathered that the government had also not communicated its findings on the video to the #BringBackOurGirls movement, 48 hours after it was aired.

The spokesman, Kibaku Area Development Association, Dr. Manasseh Allen, said on Tuesday that the Yakubus and the Chibok community had not been contacted by the government about its findings or rescue plans.

“We have not heard from the government since the video was released; no one has reached out to Dorcas’ parents or the Chibok community and the funniest thing is that some people are busy defending the government,” he said on Tuesday.

Speaking in a similar vein, the BBOG spokesman, Abdullahi Abdullahi, also said no official had contacted the movement about government’s position on the video of the abducted girls.

He stated that the BBOG was in the process of articulating its plans for its march to the Presidential Villa, adding that the coalition would not give the government a breathing space until it received a result-oriented action plan from the administration.

He said, “Well, we have not heard from the government; so, our plan (to march to the Villa) has not changed.”

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Air Force has faulted the claim by the Boko Haram sect that some of the Chibok girls were killed in airstrikes.

The Director of Information  and Public Relations of the NAF, Group Capt. Ayodele Famuyiwa, said in a statement on Tuesday that the latest video released by the insurgents was both a ruse and a mischievous attempt by the group to attract public attention to itself.

Famuyiwa pointed out that while the Boko Haram showed some of the abducted girls and an airborne aircraft, the group did not provide any evidence to indicate that the supposed casualties died as a result of airstrikes.

He said that the manner in which the bodies were arranged was in conflict with any natural setting that had undergone aerial bombardment.

He added that the impact and damage done to the bodies would have been more if it was true that they were killed in air strikes.

Famuyiwa described the video as a ‘make-up story’ to discredit the NAF, and a ploy to whip up public sentiments against the ongoing aerial bombardment of terrorists hideouts which was a major factor in the successes recorded against the insurgents in the North-East.

No comments: