“I want to urge all of us to join
in this global campaign to bring back our girls by signing unto a petition to
world leaders on http://www.ghange.org-en GB/petitions/ over 200
girls-are-missing-in-Nigeria-please-help-find-them-bringbackourgirls.
“It is sad and could happen to
our daughters and nieces. Mr Speaker, I thank you for your indulgence, “Mrs
Gifty Eugenia Kusi, New Patriotic Party Member of Parliament for Tarkwa Nsuaem,
said in a statement, when the House resumed sitting on Tuesday after it went on
recess last April.
Mrs Kusi, who is also the
Minority Spokesperson on Gender and Children, recalled the terrifying news of
the kidnapping of more than 200 girls on the night of April 14 and April 15, by
a group of Boko Haram militants who attacked the Government Girls School in
Chibok, Nigeria.
They broke into the school,
shooting the guards and killing one soldier.
Reports have it that the students were taken away in trucks, possibly
into the Konduga area of the Sambisa Forest, where the Boko Haram were known to
have fortified camps.
Houses in Chibok were also burnt
down in the incident.
The school had been closed for
four weeks prior to the attack due to the deteriorating security situation, but
students from multiple schools in the district had been called in to take their
final exams in physics.
It is alleged that the students
were being forced into Islam and into marriage with members of Boko Haram, with
a bride price of N2, 000 each (12.50).
There is also an allegation that
many of the students are being taken to neighbouring Chad and Cameroun.
The Nigerian Police are still
unclear as to the exact number of kidnapped students, and they have asked
parents to provide documents so that an official count could be made since
school records were damaged during the attack.
When he first spoke on the
incident, Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan assured his countrymen that
Government is doing everything possible to find the missing girls.
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau
has claimed responsibility for the kidnappings and claimed that Allah
instructed him to sell the girls, vowing to carry out the said instructions
because the girls should not have been in school.
He said that slavery is accepted
in “his religion”, and the girls should be married since girls at “nine are
suitable for marriage.”
The incident has attracted
international attention, with consequent meetings of Nigeria President with US,
Israeli, French and British foreign ministers, where the consensus was that no
deals should be struck with the terrorists, and that a solution involving force
is required.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, the
UNICEF, the UN Security Council have all condemned the incident, with a
warning from the Council that serious action is to be taken against Boko Haram
militants for the abduction.
International pressure is
mounting for the release of the girls, with Ghana’s First Lady Lordina Mahama
and former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings joining in the campaign.
About a forthnight ago, ECOWAS
leaders held an emergency meeting in Accra on the issue, with an assurance of
help to President Jonathan.
Contributions by members on both
sides unanimously condemned the act and expressed an urgent need to release the
kidnapped girls.
The House also took the Excise
Duty Bill through the consideration stage.
(GNA)
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