Presidential fact-finding committee on abduction visits Chibok

The Presidential Fact-finding Committee on the Abducted Chibok Schoolgirls yesterday visited Chibok, Borno State.

A statement by the spokesperson of the Committee, Kingsley Osadolor, said the Fact-finding Committee was received at Chibok by the state Commissioner for Education, chairman of Chibok Local Government, five District Heads of the surrounding communities, chairman of the Parent Teachers Association of the school, the Principal, and several others, including wailing parents of the abducted girls.

Also present were some of the students who escaped from the insurgents. Members of the Committee visited the burnt-out structures of Government Girls Secondary School, where the girls were abducted. The receiving party conducted members of the Committee round the grounds of the school.

The Principal, Vice Principals, Matrons of the hostels, as well as security guards and cooks were earlier debriefed by the Committee in Maiduguri. The Committee later held an interactive session with the Chibok community on the school premises.

At the meeting, Chairman of the Fact-finding Committee, Brig.-Gen. Ibrahim Sabo (rtd), who spoke with misty eyes, said the Committee came, first, to sympathise with the parents and other community members over the havoc of the insurgents. He assured the people of President Goodluck Jonathan's concern about the fate of the abducted students, saying that the President was having sleepless nights.

Gen. Sabo also urged the people to be calm and patient. He informed them of the multifaceted approach to resolving the abduction saga. 'As we gather here to see you wailing, by the grace of God, we will also gather here to dance and rejoice with you when the girls regain their freedom,' he said.

The Chairman of Chibok Local Government, Hon. Bana Lawan, praised the Committee for visiting and bringing messages of succour and hope to members of the community.

He berated those who had claimed that the mass abduction was a political scam.

'The greatest fact your committee can find are the biological parents of some of the students who were abducted,' he said. The Commissioner for Education, Hon. Musa Inuwa Kubo, also expressed happiness over the visit.

He urged members of the Fact-finding Committee to convey to President Jonathan the people's hope and belief that the girls would be found and reunited with their families. Others who spoke at the meeting include the Rev. Enoch Mark whose two daughters are among the schoolgirls still unaccounted for.