Chibok girls: FG, BBOG campaigners meet today

Exactly six months after Boko Haram terrorists abducted schoolgirls of Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno state, the federal government has agreed to meet with the #BringBackOurGirls, BBOG campaigners today. The federal government’s decision to meet the BBOG group is coming barely some hours after the group issued a statement indicating its intention to march to the Presidential Villa to meet with President Goodlcuk Jonathan. But reacting to the statement yesterday, Coordinator of National information Centre, NIC Mile Omeri said the federal government is determined to constantly brief the Nigerian people on its war against terrorism, and other related issues bordering on national security. NIC’s coordinator stressed in a statement that the Centre is open to concerned members of the public who may wish to seek further clarifications on the on-going anti-terror campaign and the search and rescue effort in the North-East. Part of the statement reads: “In this regard, the Bring Back our Girls, BBOG groups in Nigeria are invited to its media briefing on Tuesday 14th October, 2014. The event is scheduled to take place at the National Briefing Centre located at the National Orientation Agency, NOA Headquarters, Abuja at 2.00pm. The meeting is expected to give an update to concerned citizens on efforts by the security forces to end insurgency, rescue all those in captivity with insurgent groups and return normalcy to troubled parts of the country”, Omeri stated. NIC was set up in April this year to provide regular and prompt update to the public and the media on government’s actions with regard to the campaign against insurgency in parts of the country, including efforts to rescue the abducted students of the Government Girls secondary school, Chibok, Borno state. BringBackOurGirls campaigners said they are planning to meet with President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa over the 219 Chibok schoolgirls who are still in Boko Haram captivity since April 14, 2014, and that they want to remind the president of the urgency for the immediate rescue of the girls, as well as hear directly from the President the status of the rescue efforts of the security agencies. In a statement issued yesterday by the group’s media coordinator, Rotimi Olawale, it stated that the last 180 days of the girls’ abduction had been “one of dashed hopes, intense pain, and confusion for the families due to the lack of accurate information from the government on the current status of the rescue operation.” The statement also revealed that some parents of the abducted girls would be part of the march to the villa, and that its members would also engage in what it called, a ‘walkathon’ tomorrow (Wednesday), which involves walking with red ribbons around the embassies of Chad, Cameroon, and Niger Republic, as well as the embassies of selected key nations supporting the operation to rescue the girls. Part of the statement reads: “In continuation of our Global Week of Action to commemorate the unfortunate six months mark since the abduction of our 219 Chibok girls, We, the #BringBackOurGirls Abuja family, wish to notify the members of the public that we have requested for an appointment, and will be marching to meet with our President on October 14, 2014. “The objective of our March to the Villa is to convey the urgency for the immediate rescue of our girls and to hear directly from our President and the Commander-in-Chief of our Armed Forces the accurate status of the rescue effort for our Chibok girls, whose six months period in captivity remains a source of deep anguish to their parents, Nigerians and people all of the world who believe in our shared humanity.”