HUMAN Rights lawyer Femi Falana has called for renewed protests and rallies across Nigeria to remind the government of the imperativeness of rescuing the abducted Chibok girls from their captors.
The call comes on the heels of the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the girls’ abduction from their school in Borno State.
Falana, a senior advocate, said this while participating in a programme to mark the 10th anniversary of the girls’ abduction from the Government Girls Secondary School in Southern Borno state on the night of April 14, 2014.
The event was organised by Women Radio 91.7.
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According to the lawyer, Nigerians from all walks of life must continue to mount pressure on the government to look for the girls.
“Now that we are marking the 10th anniversary, the challenge before the movement, other stakeholders, interested Nigerians, and the human rights community is to see how we can revive the rallies and protests, remind Nigerians that these girls are still missing, remind the entire world that these girls are still missing, and see what can be done to pressurise the government to devise means of locating them.
“Initially, we were told, once government can take over the Sambisa forest, we are going to be able to secure the release of these girls. We must go back to that harassment which I will call harassment of the government by gathering either on a weekly basis or on a monthly basis and let the world know that these girls are still missing,” the fiery lawyer stated.
According to Falana, when the unfortunate incident occurred ten years ago, the military hierarchy claimed that the armed forces knew where these girls were, but they didnt want any harm to occur to them. For that reason, they were going to find a way to get them released, but unfortunately, that was not the case.
He said that even when some foreign government offered to assist in locating the girls, the government arrogantly maintained that it could ensure that they were brought home safely.
He added that to divert attention at a stage, former President Goodluck Jonathan’s government set up a panel of enquiry to help the government make suggestions on how the girls could be located.
“I was a member of that panel, and I declined to serve because it is not the business of civilians to make suggestions on how to secure the release of innocent, unharmed girls who were kidnapped in their school; it is the duty of the government to ensure the safety and security of not just of citizens but everybody living in Nigeria.
“We have a duty to continue to mount pressure on the government to look for these girls. Under the law, somebody will be presumed dead after seven years if he can not be located but we are all convinced that these girls are alive and that the government did not do enough and the government has not done enough to secure the release of these girls ,” he claimed.
He argued that one of the most horrendous actions ever taken by a Nigerian government was the attack on the Bring Back Our Girls movement in Abuja.
According to him, the government initially felt disturbed over the movement’s activities and court judgement backing its efforts that it had been reminded of its responsibility and sent troops to attack the movement.
“The government was disturbed and not satisfied with the judgement. Instead of filing an appeal, the government sent troops to disband the protesters around the Unity Fountain and made it impossible for the movement to continue to operate,” Falana stated.
He said that despite the abduction of Chibok girls ten years ago, several girls and students, including primary school pupils, had been kidnapped and abducted, and some had died in the process and called it shameful.
“This is unacceptable in modern society; therefore, we must call on the government to comply with Section 14, sub-section 2b of the Constitution, which provides that the security and welfare of the Nigerian people is the primary purpose of government. If the government cannot secure the people, it is not fit to be in power.
He pleaded with the executive secretary of the Human Rights Commission, Anthony Ojukwu, who was also on the programme, to coordinate efforts to renew the campaign for the search for the missing girls.
Speaking on the report published by HumAngle stating that over N1 billion was approved for the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs between 2017 and 2022 to empower and educate some of the Chibok girls that were released, the head of investigation at HumAngle, Kunle Adebajo, said many red flags were spotted in the disbursement.
According to him, with the help of the Open Treasury Portal, the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs has spent over N1.4 billion between 2018 and 2023.
“Unfortunately, there are many red flags. For example, you will find out they paid a company N83 million to provide palliative care in 2021, and if the parents say they have not received any support from the government, that means there are many questions to be answered.”
He said he also found that some money went into private accounts.
Apart from Falana, other participants in the programme include Adebajo, Executive Director of Enough Is Enough (EIE) Yemi Adamolekun, and the Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission, Ojukwu.
On April 14 2014, Boko Haram struck at night at the Government Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, and rounded up at least 276 schoolgirls from their dormitory and escaped into the Sambisa Forest.
As they journeyed in the dark, some of the girls escaped by jumping off the trucks that conveyed them.
The Chibok incident birthed the BringBackOur Girls (BBOG) campaign that would later metamorphose into a massive international platform for calling for the girls’ rescue.
In May 2023, The ICIR reported that 37 parents of the girls had died since the incident.
Though many of the girls have been rescued by the military, it is believed that more than 90 of them are still with their captors.
A reporter with the ICIR
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