The Federal Government has rejected the conditions given by
the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) group for joining a day
search to Sambisa Forest for the kidnapped Chibok girls.
In a letter dated January 11, signed by the Minister of
Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed and addressed to
BBOG co-covener, Mrs Oby Ezekwesili, the Federal
Government had asked the group to nominate three of its
members for the North-east tour scheduled for January 17 .
In its reply, the BBOG requested the government to meet
certain conditions before the tour and also demanded for a
change in the scheduled date.
The group specifically asked for a Pre-Tour Meeting with
some officials of government and a retraction of some
remarks allegedly made by the Chief of Army Staff, which it
described as defamatory
In a letter dated Saturday, January 14th, the government said
it was unable to postpone the trip as scheduled.
"Thank you for your letter, dated Jan. 13, which is in
response to ours of Jan. 11, requesting that we
change the date of the proposed guided tour of the
North-East to accommodate a Pre-Tour Meeting
between your organisation and some top officials of
the Federal Government.
"We have also noted the conditions you gave for embarking
on the trip which include the said Pre-Tour Meeting and the
retraction of some remarks allegedly made by the Chief of
Army Staff, Lt. – Gen. Tukur Buratai, which the #BBOG finds
to be slanderous.
"We regret, however, to inform you that we are unable to
postpone the trip as scheduled. ’’
The government insisted the team would proceed on the trip
on Monday as scheduled because of the narrow window
available to have a good weather on the day. It said that
payment for the satellite downlink streaming of the mission
had been made for the day and shifting the date will require
another round of booking to secure such a slot.
The government added that apart from the BBOG members,
local and international journalists had been invited for the trip,
while some preparations had been made by the Nigerian
military.
It noted that the remarks purportedly made by the Chief of
Army Staff and the request for a meeting with its certain top
officials were irrelevant to its request for the BBOG to join in
the search mission.
The government stressed that it extended the invitation to the
BBOG in recognition of the group’s commitment to the safe
release of the Chibok girls in captivity and interest in the
welfare of those who had been released.
"We hope that the BBOG will drop its conditions and
join the trip which shows the commitment of the
Federal Government to securing freedom for the
Chibok girls and its transparency in handling the
issues of the girls. "
