APC behind #bringbackourgirls campaign, alleges Maku

Nigeria federal government said on Wednesday that over 90 per cent of those campaigning to bring back Chibok girls are also members are members of the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC.

Labaran Maku, Nigeria’s minister of Information told reporters that the fact that the three states mostly affected by the Boko Haram insurgency are controlled by the opposition party, is an indication of failure of governance.

Maku who said the Federal government has spent billions of naira to control the insurgency in the three APC States spoke on the same day groups believed to be thugs believed to be sponsored by President Goodluck Jonathan led Federal Government attacked the #BringBackOurGirls protesters led by Dr Oby Ezekweshili, a former Minister of Education in Abuja.

The Information minister said despite the huge security spending by the federal government on the three states, most of the protesters accusing the government of not doing enough on security are APC members.

“Today, the federal government is spending huge chunk of its resources in maintaining security especially in the north east; yet they (APC members) constitute over 90 per cent of those protesting against the federal government.

“Look: the entire money we are spending is to maintain security in states controlled by the APC . So why do you come back and start playing politics? We are busy spending money to maintain security in those states, what have they done about it? Because 90 per cent of all insurgency is in states controlled by that party,” said Maku.

“Ninety per cent of those campaigning to bring back Chibok girls are also members of that same party”, said the Information Minister who also lamented that the federal government who he described a the “fire fighter,” fighting the insurgency is being blamed for the abduction of the girls.

He nevertheless affirmed that the rescue of the over 250 girl kidnapped on April 14 in Chibok, Borno State remain a priority for government.

“The Chibok girls remain our number one priority, we will never sleep, we will not rest until God brings them out.

Analysts said this mindset influenced the attack on members of the #BRINGBACKOURGIRLS, Abuja family Wednesday by men believed to be thugs sponsored by government.

In a statement signed by Hadiza Bala Usman and Obiageli Ezekwesili, the two leaders of the movement, narrated how their regular daily meetings was disrupted by the thugs and a rival group believed to be sponsored by government.

The statement reads: “Following our march to meet with President Jonathan, during which he was represented by a delegation, led by the Secretary to the Government, a speech was read on his behalf advising our movement #BringBackOurGirls, Abuja Family: “…that protests should be directed at the terrorists…”.

Last Monday 26th May, being the 27th day of our daily gathering at the Unity Fountain and the 42nd day since the abduction day of our girls, we observed a large contingent of a new group that arrived in over 30 Federal Government SURE P Buses with a message that aligned with what we had been told during our meeting with the Federal Government delegation.

Understanding fully the constitutional guarantee of every citizens’ right to their expression and to peaceful gathering, we continued with our own meeting in a new location, having lost our usual spot to the new group.

Regrettably, we then witnessed patterns of escalating aggression toward our group by this new group.

In our bid at stemming any further aggravation, we wrote a Letter of Complaint dated 28th May to the Inspector General of Police and the FCT Commissioner of Police which was duly received by their respective offices.

“In our letter, attached to this Statement, we reminded the Nigerian Police that we have been a group, which has conducted itself with utmost civility in the course of our campaign for the abducted Chibok girls.

“We asked the Nigerian Police Force to be available to reprimand the aggressive group and remind them of the need to conduct themselves similarly and to desist from any form of confrontation to our group.

Unfortunately, what we feared would happen unfolded, and tragically with officers of the Nigerian Police Force looking on, thugs, hooligans, miscreants dressed in the red, yellow, and white t-shirts with the inscription: #ReleaseOurGirls Boko Haram” burst upon our group breaking chairs, and bottles on the heads of members of #BringBackOurGirls, Abuja, many of the women broke down.

“They snatched phones and handbags of ladies in our group and also attacked the local and international media correspondents, confiscating and breaking their cameras.

“The police, at a point, arrested two of the ringleaders, but before our very eyes, released them barely 10 minutes after.

“By this Statement, we are calling the attention of the President, the Federal Government and the international community to the descent to anarchy against our group, which simply emerged as a women-led civil society group driven by a response to the plight of the abducted Chibok girls and their families.

We know that this is a violation of our fundamental right to peaceful assembly and freedom of association, but we remain resolute in standing with the Chibok girls.

“We invite every Nigerian with goodwill towards the abducted girls to our daily events.

“Tomorrow, we shall stand in solidarity with them through a National Symposium, which will be holding at Thisday Dome, with live broadcast on Channels TV.

“We shall return to the Unity Fountain on Friday, May 31, 2014 and will continue with our daily advocacy.

“We shall continue to demand that those with the responsibility to protect our lives and our welfare, to BringBackOurGirls,”they said in the statement.