#BringBackOurGirls Campaign Group Refutes Allegations By DSS
The #BringBackOurGirls campaign group, which was setup to facilitate the release of the over 234 abducted female students from Chibok, Borno State, on July 10, 2014, Thursday, reacted to the allegations made by the Department of State Services (DSS), which stated that the group had turned into a franchise.
According to Vanguard, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili and Hadiza Bala Usman, the group's coordinators, in a statement, issued in Abuja, refuted the DSS claim and went ahead to accuse security operatives of harassment, vilification, insinuations, as well as threats.
Related: #BringBackOurGirls: This Is What President Jonathan Said To Protesters Who Marched To Aso Rock
The coordinators, who insisted that the #Bring Back Our Girls campaign was just a protest group, said: "For over two months, security agencies have harassed and sought to intimidate our movement incessantly. The latest was the statement on Tuesday credited to the Deputy Director of Department of State Services, Mrs. Marilyn Ogar who described the #BringBackOurGirls campaign as a franchise".
Below is an excerpt from the statement of the group:
"This is a dangerous and unprecedented attack because as is well known in security circles, the term ‘franchise’ is used to refer to inter related terrorist cells. She is reported to have said that if indeed our movement ‘was a protest group it would not need to force members to register and wear tags’. There is a clear attempt to smear our work with a link to Chibok and Sambisa forest. It is clear from these comments that the security agencies are setting up the movement for a crackdown based on trumped up accusations. Our activities are open and our meetings are in a public space, the Unity Fountain. There is no compulsion to membership and our symbols such as the red T shirts, face caps and pins are donated voluntarily be members. We are motivated by empathy and the need to search and rescue these girls".
It would be recalled that the spokesperson for DSS, Mrs. Marilyn Ogar, on Tuesday, July 8, 2014 accused the organisers of the #BringBackOurGirls protests of encouraging terrorism with their activities. It also alleged that the campaigners had turned the protest into a franchise.
Source: Legit.ng
