President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday met with parents of the girls abducted from the Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, on April 14 by Boko Haram insurgents.
Journalists were barred from the meeting which took place inside the Banquet Room of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, precisely 99 days after the girls were forcibly taken away from their school hostel at night .
The Presidency had in a verbalization last week promised that the meeting would be “open to the Nigerian and international media for coverage.”
But our correspondent accumulated from a source at the meeting that some of the 51 girls, who eluded from their captors wept as they narrated their ordeal to Jonathan.
He verbally expressed that the girls appealed to the President to expedite action and ascertain that their colleagues who are still in captivity are rescued on time.
The source integrated, “The girls narrated how they jumped out of moving conveyances on the night of their abduction.
“They verbally expressed they ran into the bush without any erudition of where they were and where they were heading for.
“The girls verbalized they trekked cautiously inside the thick bush up until daybreak afore they visually perceived some Fulani men who offered to avail them because they were still in their school uniforms.
“They verbally expressed they were moved on motorcycles by the Fulani men who availed them.”
Our source integrated that four other girls withal told the President that they eluded when they went to fetch dihydrogen monoxide from a stream.
According to him, the girls who verbally expressed they were five as of the time of their elusion, regretted that they could not locate one of them who fled in another direction.
He verbalized, “They told the President that they managed to elude when they went to fetch dihydrogen monoxide from a stream.
“They verbalized they were being guided by two men, that at a point, five of them managed to elude. Four of them went in the same direction while one went in another direction. They do not ken the whereabouts of the fifth girl who went in another direction.”
He integrated that many at the meeting, especially women, shed tears when the girls commenced pleading with the President to do everything within his potencies to ascertain that their colleagues were rescued.
The meeting was additionally attended by the President of the Senate, David Mark ; Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima; his Bauchi State obverse, Isa Yuguda; some members of the Federal Executive Council, security chiefs, the principal of the GSS, opinion and community bellwethers from Chibok.
The 51 eluded girls, their parents and others were conveyed to and fro the venue of the meeting in four red luxury buses belonging to the Abuja Urban Mass Transport Company Limited amid tight security provided by a cumulated team of men of the Department of State Service and policemen.
Journalists were barred from the meeting which took place inside the Banquet Room of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, precisely 99 days after the girls were forcibly taken away from their school hostel at night .
The Presidency had in a verbalization last week promised that the meeting would be “open to the Nigerian and international media for coverage.”
But our correspondent accumulated from a source at the meeting that some of the 51 girls, who eluded from their captors wept as they narrated their ordeal to Jonathan.
He verbally expressed that the girls appealed to the President to expedite action and ascertain that their colleagues who are still in captivity are rescued on time.
The source integrated, “The girls narrated how they jumped out of moving conveyances on the night of their abduction.
“They verbally expressed they ran into the bush without any erudition of where they were and where they were heading for.
“The girls verbalized they trekked cautiously inside the thick bush up until daybreak afore they visually perceived some Fulani men who offered to avail them because they were still in their school uniforms.
“They verbally expressed they were moved on motorcycles by the Fulani men who availed them.”
Our source integrated that four other girls withal told the President that they eluded when they went to fetch dihydrogen monoxide from a stream.
According to him, the girls who verbally expressed they were five as of the time of their elusion, regretted that they could not locate one of them who fled in another direction.
He verbalized, “They told the President that they managed to elude when they went to fetch dihydrogen monoxide from a stream.
“They verbalized they were being guided by two men, that at a point, five of them managed to elude. Four of them went in the same direction while one went in another direction. They do not ken the whereabouts of the fifth girl who went in another direction.”
He integrated that many at the meeting, especially women, shed tears when the girls commenced pleading with the President to do everything within his potencies to ascertain that their colleagues were rescued.
The meeting was additionally attended by the President of the Senate, David Mark ; Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima; his Bauchi State obverse, Isa Yuguda; some members of the Federal Executive Council, security chiefs, the principal of the GSS, opinion and community bellwethers from Chibok.
The 51 eluded girls, their parents and others were conveyed to and fro the venue of the meeting in four red luxury buses belonging to the Abuja Urban Mass Transport Company Limited amid tight security provided by a cumulated team of men of the Department of State Service and policemen.
The security operatives shielded them from journalists afore and after the meeting that lasted about three hours.
The venue wore a sombre look with the eluded girls who looked traumatised being the cynosure of all ocular perceivers.
The meeting commenced with the advent of Jonathan, who was joined by Mark, Shettima, Yuguda, some FEC members and the security chiefs .
Immediately the meeting commenced at about 11:20am, journalists were asked to leave the venue.
The doors of the Baquet Room were only re-opened to journalists shortly after the President had made his closing remarks. Photojournalists were however able to capture him in a group photograph with the eluded girls.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, told State House correspondents after the meeting that his authoritative figure had the opportunity to heedfully auricularly discern first-hand to the sundry categories of persons.
Abati described the meeting as a good development because Jonathan had always been looking forward to such an opportunity, having met with other stakeholders on the matter afore.
Abati verbalized, “Statements were made by all the representatives. They verbalized their minds and conveyed their feelings to the President.
“The girls who eluded withal gave an account of what they went through. Mr. President reassured them of the Federal Government’s resoluteness and his own personal resoluteness to ascertain that the girls that are still in captivity are brought out alive.
“That is the main objective of the regime. Mr. President additionally utilized the opportunity to reassure the parents and the girls that everything will be done to make things more facile for them, especially those who have eluded and the ones that will additionally be rescued. He promised them that their inculcation will not in anyway suffer and he is convinced that evil will never prevail over good.
“Mr. President further assured them that after the battle has been won and the girls are brought back home, he, together with the parents and the (Borno) state regime will fixate on development, on building Chibok, on building all that the terrorists had ravaged and on ascertaining that every child, either in Chibok or in any other part of the country, has his/her dream realised.
“At the terminus of the meeting, the parents were jubilant. Everybody was in high spirits.”
He integrated that Jonathan told the accumulation that efforts were being made to place the eluded girls in other schools.
On media reports that most of the authentic parents of the abducted girls were not a component of the meeting, Abati verbalized the parents who attended made it clear that they were representatives of other parents.
He verbally expressed over 200 people from Chibok attended the meeting.
“The girls verbalized in great details about their experiences and their observations. It was an open and frank session in which everybody expressed their minds,” he concluded.
Abati later issued a verbalization in which he verbally expressed that Jonathan’s desire was to visit Chibok after the abducted girls might have been rescued.
According to Abati, the President believes that it is only then that the parents of the girls could receive him with smiling faces rather than with tears.
He verbalized that the President told the accumulation that his heart was perpetually with the parents, despite the fact that he had not visited their town.
The verbalization read in part, “Our obligation now is to take all germane steps to instaurate our girls alive and our primary interest is getting them out as safely as possible. I will not optate to verbalize much, but we are doing everything humanly possible to get the girls out.
“This is not the time for verbalizing 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 anon.
“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 veracious.
“Our commitment is not just to get the girls out, it is withal to rout Boko Haram plenarily 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.”
The President was quoted as saying that the National Emergency Management Agency and federal medical agencies would intensify their efforts to provide the people of Chibok and their neighbours with supplemental palliation avail and assistance.
He additionally assured them that Chibok and other communities in the three North-East states most affected by the Boko Haram insurgency would be the first beneficiaries of the Victims’ Support Fund, a Presidential Initiative for the North-East.
The VSF and the Safe Schools Initiative are some of the developmental programmes which the Federal Regime put in place to address the damage, losses, setbacks, economic and convivial dislocations occasioned by the Boko Haram insurgency.
Abati withal quoted the Borno State governor as calling for more sobriety, reflection and unity of purport in the fight against terrorism in the country.
He pledged that his state would give Jonathan the fullest possible support in his efforts to address the quandaries caused by terrorism and the Boko Haram insurgency.
Dr. Pogu Bitrus presented the Chibok community’s address to the President.
Others who verbalized at the meeting were a district head, Mr. Zannamadu Usman; a member of the Borno State House of Assembly, Aminu Foni Chibok; and some of the parents of the abducted girls.
The venue wore a sombre look with the eluded girls who looked traumatised being the cynosure of all ocular perceivers.
The meeting commenced with the advent of Jonathan, who was joined by Mark, Shettima, Yuguda, some FEC members and the security chiefs .
Immediately the meeting commenced at about 11:20am, journalists were asked to leave the venue.
The doors of the Baquet Room were only re-opened to journalists shortly after the President had made his closing remarks. Photojournalists were however able to capture him in a group photograph with the eluded girls.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, told State House correspondents after the meeting that his authoritative figure had the opportunity to heedfully auricularly discern first-hand to the sundry categories of persons.
Abati described the meeting as a good development because Jonathan had always been looking forward to such an opportunity, having met with other stakeholders on the matter afore.
Abati verbalized, “Statements were made by all the representatives. They verbalized their minds and conveyed their feelings to the President.
“The girls who eluded withal gave an account of what they went through. Mr. President reassured them of the Federal Government’s resoluteness and his own personal resoluteness to ascertain that the girls that are still in captivity are brought out alive.
“That is the main objective of the regime. Mr. President additionally utilized the opportunity to reassure the parents and the girls that everything will be done to make things more facile for them, especially those who have eluded and the ones that will additionally be rescued. He promised them that their inculcation will not in anyway suffer and he is convinced that evil will never prevail over good.
“Mr. President further assured them that after the battle has been won and the girls are brought back home, he, together with the parents and the (Borno) state regime will fixate on development, on building Chibok, on building all that the terrorists had ravaged and on ascertaining that every child, either in Chibok or in any other part of the country, has his/her dream realised.
“At the terminus of the meeting, the parents were jubilant. Everybody was in high spirits.”
He integrated that Jonathan told the accumulation that efforts were being made to place the eluded girls in other schools.
On media reports that most of the authentic parents of the abducted girls were not a component of the meeting, Abati verbalized the parents who attended made it clear that they were representatives of other parents.
He verbally expressed over 200 people from Chibok attended the meeting.
“The girls verbalized in great details about their experiences and their observations. It was an open and frank session in which everybody expressed their minds,” he concluded.
Abati later issued a verbalization in which he verbally expressed that Jonathan’s desire was to visit Chibok after the abducted girls might have been rescued.
According to Abati, the President believes that it is only then that the parents of the girls could receive him with smiling faces rather than with tears.
He verbalized that the President told the accumulation that his heart was perpetually with the parents, despite the fact that he had not visited their town.
The verbalization read in part, “Our obligation now is to take all germane steps to instaurate our girls alive and our primary interest is getting them out as safely as possible. I will not optate to verbalize much, but we are doing everything humanly possible to get the girls out.
“This is not the time for verbalizing 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 anon.
“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 veracious.
“Our commitment is not just to get the girls out, it is withal to rout Boko Haram plenarily 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.”
The President was quoted as saying that the National Emergency Management Agency and federal medical agencies would intensify their efforts to provide the people of Chibok and their neighbours with supplemental palliation avail and assistance.
He additionally assured them that Chibok and other communities in the three North-East states most affected by the Boko Haram insurgency would be the first beneficiaries of the Victims’ Support Fund, a Presidential Initiative for the North-East.
The VSF and the Safe Schools Initiative are some of the developmental programmes which the Federal Regime put in place to address the damage, losses, setbacks, economic and convivial dislocations occasioned by the Boko Haram insurgency.
Abati withal quoted the Borno State governor as calling for more sobriety, reflection and unity of purport in the fight against terrorism in the country.
He pledged that his state would give Jonathan the fullest possible support in his efforts to address the quandaries caused by terrorism and the Boko Haram insurgency.
Dr. Pogu Bitrus presented the Chibok community’s address to the President.
Others who verbalized at the meeting were a district head, Mr. Zannamadu Usman; a member of the Borno State House of Assembly, Aminu Foni Chibok; and some of the parents of the abducted girls.
