Chibok Leaders Deny Receiving N100 Million From The Presidency

Leaders of Chibok Association have today in a press statement denied ever

receiving N100 million for the President during their visit to Aso Rock.

A statement signed by the Spokesperson of the Association, Mr. Dauda Illya

described the allegations that Chibok Leaders received N100 Million from

the Presidency as disgusting.
The statement reads: “We are highly disturbed and disgusted by the recent

information circulating in the media over alleged receipt of money by the

leadership of Kibaku Area Development Association (KADA) from the

Presidency. It is with deep sadness that we are addressing you today to

state that the claim is completely false, malicious and unfounded.

“Our primary priority has and remains the rescue of our abducted 219

daughters. Our Association has been at the forefront of calling for

decisive measures to secure their release.
“We took the moral high ground as a Community Association that represents

the Chibok people in Abuja to facilitate the recent visit of parents of

our abducted daughters and 51 of the 57 that escaped. We helped make that

visit possible despite our misgivings that it was a poor substitute to our

expectation that Mr. President should have visited Chibok even before the

visit of our people for a tragedy that is now 107 days old.

“When the Presidency requested us to invite parents and escaped Chibok

girls against 22nd July, 2014, we accepted the responsibility on the

condition that we shall facilitate by way of contacting and mobilizing the

parents and escaped girls thereby playing the sole role of facilitators.

“We clearly spelt out to the Presidency through the office of the Chief of

Staff that we shall not be involved with any financial transaction

whatsoever, including payment of transportation from Chibok to Yola,

flight by air from Yola to Abuja, hotel accommodation and feeding in

Abuja, intra-city transportation while in Abuja.
 
“We specifically conveyed our stand in that regard by a letter dated 18th

July, 2014 of which copies are available for your perusal. The Presidency

agreed to our request and made the arrangements for the conveyance of the

parents and escaped girls from Chibok to Abuja, accommodated them and was

responsible for their feeding and local transit.
“It is noteworthy that our primary and only goal is the safe return of the

girls that are still in captivity. It is sad that we are losing sight of

this to the allegation of sharing of money.
“We therefore want the world to understand that we, KADA stand by our

earlier position and DID NOT DEMAND, RECEIVE OR HANDLE ANY FINANCES

throughout the process of the visit.
We therefore make public our findings as follows:
 
1. On the night of the 22nd July, 2014 at about midnight, the Senior

Special Assistant to the President on Special Duties who had been

coordinating the visit on the side of the Presidency, visited the hotel

and told the 51 escaped girls who came that the Presidency sent them a

token of N100,000.00 each and accordingly gave them the said sum without

prior discussion with any KADA official or any other person in the

community.
 
2. He equally gave the sum of N200,000.00 each to 61 parents out of the

122 parents that came on the visit. 51 Parents were given N100,000.00 each

on the basis that the money given to him was not enough to go round at

N200,000.00. The remaining 10 parents were not given any amount of money.

 
3. As for the money given to some parents back home in Chibok, it was the

sum of N1,000,000.00 given to them by the Hon. Member of the House of Reps

representing Chibok/Damboa/Gwoza Federal Constituency which is the source

of the alleged N7,000.00 given to parents in Chibok that were not part of

the visit.
While we acknowledge that any well intended support for our suffering

population which has lost means of livelihood since the events of April 14

and subsequent attacks could be welcome; however the approach that the

Presidency adopted has brought reproach and dishonor to our community in

the eyes of the public that has supported us since the abduction of our

daughters.
We hereby state categorically that NO AMOUNT OF MONEY whatsoever was given

to KADA leadership to share among the parents and escaped girls or for

whatever reason and therefore the allegation is completely baseless, false

and malicious to say the least.”
Signed: Dauda Illya
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