Why we didn’t meet with Jonathan— CHIBOK PARENTS

ABUJA—THE twelve parents of the abducted
Chibok schoolgirls, Wednesday, explained that
they refused to meet President Goodluck
Jonathan in Abuja last Tuesday because they
were not in the city at the instance of the
Federal Government or any of its
representatives.
They said they were in Abuja on the full
understanding that they were coming to meet
with Malala, an advocate of girl-child
education.
Spokesperson of the Chibok community in
Abuja, Mr. Dauda Iliya, who gave the
explanation while briefing newsmen in Abuja,
insisted that the parents and the five escaped
girls did not come to Abuja at the instance of
government and as such had no basis to meet
with the President without the permission of
other parents they left in Chibok.
He said: ‘‘The logistics and meeting between
the 12 fathers and five girls and Malala were
facilitated by Abuja Chibok Community and
the Citizens platform of Bring-Back-Our-Girls
with our consent and on trust, considering
their sustained and focused advocacy to bring
back our daughters.
“On behalf of these Chibok parents, we offer to
Nigerians the facts as they are and to put the
records straight and correct the erroneous
impression making rounds in the media on the
botched meeting with the President.
“These parents and escaped girls did not
come to Abuja at the instance of government
or its representatives for a meeting with Mr.
President, but on the full understanding that
they were coming to meet with Malala; an
advocate of girl-child education and most
importantly one who has suffered a similar
fate as their daughters.
‘We were just 2% of the victims’
“In the course of the interactions with Malala,
neither the parents nor the escaped girls
asked for a meeting with the President or any
government functionary, rather the narrative
back home was to persistently ask why the
President had not visited them in Chibok since
the abduction.
“It is obvious that 12 fathers and five girls is
about two percent of the parents of the 219
abducted girls still with their abductors and
the 57 girls that escaped.
“Therefore, these parents decided on their own
accord to review the announced visit, which
they first heard of like every other person
during Malala speech in Abuja.
“That consequent to their decision to revert to
other family members to incorporate every
stakeholder on the matter and avoid discord
and suspicion on a change of plans from the
original mission to Abuja, they reached out to
the Malala team and through them to the
Presidency; to request for a new date for an
expanded and more representative meeting
that has a legitimate mandate to meet with
the President.’’
Iliya further explained that their request for
such a meeting was also in recognition of the
huge opportunity of a meeting with the
President for the first time, adding that after
over 90 days of the tragic abduction of their
daughters, the situation required better
consultations, structure and formality as
against an instant advocacy request.
The group, however, described as misleading
and unjust the accusation against the
citizens’ platform, Bring-Back-Our-Girls, as
being responsible for the decision made by the
12 parents and the Chibok community.
New meeting set
He said: “We take full responsibility for our
decision and welcome the formal invitation by
the Presidency as a follow up to Malala’s
visit, which we received this morning.”
The meeting was arranged after education
activist and a victim of terrorist attack, Malala
Yousofazai, met with President Jonathan on
Monday and pleaded with the President to
meet with the parents of the abducted girls to
encourage them.
Jonathan, in a statement delivered by his
Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Dr.
Doyin Okupe, accused the Bring-Back-Our-
Girls activists of politicising the planned
meeting by taking the parents out of Abuja
before the meeting could hold.
According to the President’s statement, every
arrangement had been made for the planned
meeting with the President, including sending
a bus from the Presidential Villa, to bring the
parents of the girls before the meeting was
botched.
Meanwhile, the Presidency has extended
another invitation to them set for July 22 at
the Aso Villa, which they accepted to honour.