Chibok: Ezekwesili, others fault FG’s rescue plan

A former Minister of Education, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, and other members of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign have faulted the plan put in place by the Federal Government to rescue the over 200 girls that were abducted by terrorists in Chibok, Maiduguri in April.

The group said in its Independence Day message that it was unfortunate that the girls had remained in captivity for over 170 days.

It said the ordeal of one of the girls that recently escaped put holes in claims by the Federal Government that it had deployed security agents around the Sambisa forest where the girls are believed to be held captive.

It said the recent escape of the girl, identified as Susanna, and her slow rehabilitation showed that the Federal Government had not put in place a post-rescue rehabilitation plan for the victims.

It called on the Federal Government to make the rescue of the girls its top priority. It said the ordeal of the girls in the hands of terrorists was better imagined and called on the rest of the world to continue to campaign for the release of the girls.

The statement read in part, “We call on our government to decisively act with utmost urgency in taking every measure possible to rescue our girls. We also ask that all the necessary mechanisms, structures, systems and procedures of reintegration, rehabilitation and resettlement are put in place immediately awaiting the rescue of our daughters.

“Unfortunately, Citizen Susannah, who was recently found wandering in the bushes of Sambisa forest, raises critical questions about the purported surveillance, rescue and rehabilitation plans that Nigerians were told are currently in place by both the state and Federal Government.

“Newspaper accounts report that Susannah roamed for days in the forest before she was found and helped by villagers. Susannah’s condition and plight demonstrates vividly the horrific treatment that our Chibok girls must be going through in the hands of their abductors further heightening the necessary urgency for their rescue.”