Jonathan cancels meeting with Chibok girls' parents

By The Rainbow
Jonathan cancels meeting with Chibok girls’ parents
Jonathan cancels meeting with Chibok girls’ parents

President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday cancelled an earlier scheduled meeting parents of the abducted schoolgirls of Chibok, Borno State.

The President, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs Doyin Okupe, . said the meeting had to be cancelled because political forces within the Nigerian chapter of BringBackOurGirls campaign had taken advantage of the grief of the abducted girls and their distraught parents.

Jonathan had Monday while meeting 17-year-old Pakistani advocate of girls' education rights, Malala Yousafzai, promised to meet with the parents of abducted Chibok girls..

Jonathan said the planned meeting with 12 parents of the girls as well as five of the girls that escaped from captivity was to be open for media coverage and for him to privately explain his administration's efforts towards rescuing the missing girls.

The president specifically accused the Nigerian chapter of BringBackOurGirls campaign of playing shameful and disgusting games..

According to him, despite these games, he, as a father of the abducted girls, was still ready to meet with the parents and the girls that escaped the abduction.

The president however pointed out that                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              those manipulating the victims of terrorism for their own benefit are engaging in psychological terrorism.

Jonath
The statement reads, : “It now appears that our fight to get the girls of Chibok back is not only a fight against a terrorist insurgency, but also against a political opposition.

“It is with great regret that I announce the cancellation of the meeting with 12 parents of the abducted Chibock children as well as five of the brave girls who escaped from the terrorist organisation, Boko Haram. I scheduled this meeting, which was to be open to the media for coverage by Nigerian and international press, to listen to their stories and to privately brief the parents and the girls on our efforts to rescue the abducted girls.

“My priority is not politics. My priority is the return of these girls. Unfortunately, political forces within the Nigerian chapter of Bring Back Our Girls have decided to take this opportunity to play politics with the situation and the grief of the parents and the girls. They should be ashamed of their actions.

“Those who would manipulate the victims of terrorism for their own benefit, are engaging in a similar kind of evil: psychological terrorism.”