Abducted School Girls: House Summons Service Chiefs

Parents Accuse FG Of Insensitivity
BEVERLY HILLS, CA, April 29, (THEWILL) â€' The House of Representatives Tuesday summoned all the Service Chiefs over the abduction of 236 abducted girls from Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, by Boko Haram insurgents.

The Service Chiefs summoned are the Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Naval Staff, and the Chief of Air Staff.

The House took the resolution after adopting a motion of urgent national importance moved by Hon. Peter Gumtha.

Gumtha had in the motion, 'Urgent national public importance, titled Urgent need to secure the release of the abducted girls of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State,' noted that 43 out of the 273 students abducted by the Boko Haram sect, escaped on the midnight of 14/15 April 2014 while 234 others are still in captivity over the past two weeks after the incident.

He expressed disgust over the misleading information received by the parents of the abducted children from the security agencies.

He further lamented that Mbalala-Chibok-Damboa federal road totalling 50km has been neglected and left un-tarred, thereby hindering the rescue effort from the Sector Command at Damboa and Askira.

Meanwhile, parents and relations of the abducted girls have stormed the National Assembly, protesting the inability of the government to secure the release of the school girls.

The parents carried placards with inscriptions like 'Our girls in captivity for 15 days'; 'Nigeria, come to the rescue of our girls';'Mr President, rescue our daughters'; 'A vacuum has been created'; 'Save our daughters, please'; etc among others.

The protesters led by Naomi Mutah, Woman Leader, who expressed frustration over the insensitivity of the leadership of the country to the plight of the abducted children and families, insisted on the appearance of the leadership of the National Assembly.

She called for deliberate efforts towards the freedom of the abducted children, saying 'on behalf of mothers of the 234 girls, we are not here to express our anger. Our grievance is that we are not aware of the whereabouts of these girls. Our girls have been distributed to hoodlums in the forest.'

While responding to the protesters, Senator David Mark who commiserated with the aggrieved women, assured that necessary steps were being taken at the highest level to ensure the freedom of the abducted school girls.

'We have heard your cry, we are with you on the matter. At present, we are considering a motion on the subject matter. He has sent the three of us. The Senate President has not slept over the matter. The very first motion upon resumption is the abduction. We wish to assure you that this matter will be addressed by the Senate,' he said.

In a related development, Zainab Maina, Minister of Women Affairs, has pleaded with the parents of the abducted girls, assuring them that concerted efforts were being made by the security agencies to secure them safely.

Maina gave the assurance while addressing the parents and relatives of the abducted students, who were dressed in black attires and carrying various placards at the Eagle Square, Abuja before moving into the National Assembly where they staged another peaceful demonstration.

The protesters demanded the immediate intervention of President Goodluck Jonathan for the release of their daughters in the wilderness before any harm was done to any of them.

Naomi Mutah, who led the protesters said: 'It was painful that our daughters were carried away into the wilderness over 15 days now like cows to be slaughtered, since then, we have not heard anything from the Federal Government.

'Where are the human right groups in the country? Where is the Women Affairs Ministry? Is there no government in the country? Are there no fathers and mothers in government again to deem fit to see the parents of the abducted school girls and tell us what is actually happening?

'If our children are dead, where are their corpses? Let us see their corpses, for the past two weeks, nobody has come to us, we are dying in silence, where are the international community? We need their assistance.'

SAINT MUGAGA, ABUJA