Chibok girls: Protests In Ibadan, Osogbo, Yola, Jos

MORE cities hosted yesterday peaceful protests over the abduction of over 200 schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State.

In Ibadan, Jos, Katsina, Yola and Lagos, the message was the same: bring back the girls.

Oyo State Governor’s wife Mrs Florence Ajimobi led a prayer rally and a peaceful procession in Ibadan.

The rally began around 9am at the Lekan Salami Stadium, Adamasingba, with the women wearing their traditional Buba and Iro in the wrong way. They also wore red head gears to show their anger at the abduction.

Secondary school pupils turned up for the protest in their thousands.

The women and children cursed the abductors of the Government Secondary School, Chibok girls. They carried placards with inscriptions such as: “Release our girls”; “234 girls why”; “Ajimobi says enough is enough”; “We demand the immediate release of our girls”; “Oyo State women says bring back our girls”; “Security of children should be paramount”; “Put an end to the abduction of our girls”; and “Operation no more Boko Haram”; among others.

All shops, markets and offices were shut down till around 1pm in solidarity with the troubled girls.

Mrs Ajimobi broke down in tears during her speech. She urged the Federal Government and security agencies to do everything to ensure that Nigeria becomes safe.

She said: “Rather than the expedient rescue mission we expected as promised by the leadership of the nation, we have been inundated with drama after drama, trivialising, in our own opinion, what happens to be a very grave matter.  To make matters worse, there have been subsequent reported abductions, proving further to us the grave danger we are in as a nation.  Today, it is Chibok, who knows where it could be tomorrow?

“We the women of Oyo State have taken it upon ourselves to do something different for the sake of our children and for our future, because both day and night we hear the cries of those girls, because we are not in denial of the apparent danger looming over their heads; because we feel deep in our hearts the pain and anguish of their parents, and because we are fearful for our tomorrow.”

After the prayers, Mrs Ajimobi, accompanied by House of Assembly Speaker Monsurat Sunmonu, Deputy Governor’s wife Mrs Janet Adeyemo and Commissioner for Women affairs, Mrs Atinuke Oshunkoya, marched in a procession with other women and children to the Office of the Governor where a letter was presented to Governor Abiola Ajimobi for delivery to President Goodluck Jonathan.

The letter enjoined the President to expedite action in the matter of the abducted schoolgirls and further boost security across the country.

Ajimobi noted with that “what has happened in Chibok is the worst result of terrorism in the country”.

Some residents of Osun State, led by Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s  wife Serifat, staged a protest to demand for the girls’ immediate  rescue.

There were thousands of women and girls, including students under the aegis of the National Association of Nigerian Students, to join the protest. They defied the early morning downpour to converge on the state secretariat on Gbongan Road, Osogbo, the state capital, to stage the protest.

Aregbesola urged the Federal Government not to hesitate to use force and get the cooperation of some neigbouring countries, including Niger, Chad and Cameroon, in rescuing the girls.

Aregbesola, who noted that neigbouring countries could possibly be accomplices in the insurgency, demanded that the Federal Government should involve them in the search for the abducted girls and see them as enemies if they refuse to cooperate.

Some of the protesters said they believed that the Federal Government was not doing enough to rescue the girls.

Women in Plateau State marched against the abduction. On the streets of Jos, state capital, they chorused: “We want the girls rescued from their abductors immediately.”

In a communique read by their spokesperson at the Government House, Reyfield, Mrs Esther Ibanga, the women expressed pain and sadness at the abduction.

“We Christian and Muslim women on the Plateau of every ethnic group, social location and age, express our anguish,outrage and sorrow over the terror unleashed against the most vulnerable segment of our nation”

Mrs. Ibanga added: “When terrorists resort to the kidnapping of children and,specifically the commoditisation of girls, they have attained the highest level of criminality ,insensitivity and evil.”

The women, under the umbrella of the “Plateau Women Solidarity Movement”, urged the government to be “proactive and decisive in their action and not just be reactive”.

They made some demands, among which are that the “Government must show the will power to prosecute and jail sponsors and perpetrators of terror,irrespective of political affiliation or considerations, that particular attention should be paid to securing porous borders as well as the premises of government and academic institutions, politicians must stop playing politics with the destiny of Nigerians and this great nation, and that security funding must reach the troops on the field and other areas where it is most needed to guarantee successful operations”.

Plateau State Governor Jonah Jang, who was represented by his deputy, Ambassador Ignatius Longjan, said the government was working hard and being careful in their approach so that attempts to rescue the girls would not lead to harming them.

Longjan said: “Together, we will fight this evil; we believe that within the shortest time the girls will be rescued.”

He promised the women that their message would be forwarded to the President.

Wife of Adamawa State Governor Hajia Zainab Nyako led the  protest in Yola.

Groups comprising members of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the Federation of Muslim Women of Nigeria (FOMWAN) and the Adamawa Peace Initiative blamed the Federal Government for not justifying the resources expended in the fight against insurgents.

They presented a protest letter to the Chief of Staff, Adamawa State Government House,  Alhaji Abdurrahman Abba, who represented Governor Murtala Nyako, and decried the poor handling of the rescue issue.

Describing the abduction of the girls as a national tragedy, the Chief of Staff assured the protesting groups that the state government would continue to support the security agencies with a view to solving the insecurity in the Northeast.

At the Adamawa State House of Assembly, the group was received by the Chairman House Committee on Women Affairs and member representing Demsa Constituency in the House of Assembly, Wale Fwa, on behalf of the speaker.

Hajiya Zainab Nyako urged President Jonathan to ensure the release of the girls.

 The representative of the Women for Justice and Peace in Nigeria, Turai A.A Kadir, said Nigerians were not satisfied with the government’s response to Boko Haram.