Ezekwesili Prevented Parents Of The Kidnapped Girls From Seeing Jonathan – Okupe

Contrary to earlier reports on the cancellation of a proposed meeting between President Goodluck Jonathan and parents of the abducted Chibok girls, the presidency has finally come out to reveal who stopped the meeting.

According to the Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to President Jonathan, Dr Doyin Okupe, the convener of the Bring Back Our Girls campaign, Mrs Oby Ezekwesili, was responsible for the stoppage of the planned meeting between the president and parents of the kidnapped schoolgirls from Chibok, Borno State.

Speaking via a telephone on Channel Television's Sunrise Daily, Okupe said: “I have it on good authority that the Chairman of the Chibok Community in Abuja and the parents were very enthusiastic and happy that the president was going to see them”, but was quick to add that “unfortunately the night before Pakistani Child Rights Activist, Malala Yousafzai left we knew there was something untoward that was already in the offing."

Mr Okupe alleged that before Malala boarded a plane back to Pakistan “she was on the telephone with some of the leaders of Bring Back Our Girls and in particular, Mrs Ezekwsili, who insisted to her that under no circumstances would they allow the girls and parents to visit the president."

“Malala was very upset and distraught that she was on the phone for about 40 minutes pleading.

* Dr. Doyin Okupe

“When she was not successful, she gave the phone to her father, who also passionately pleaded that having made this effort so far, it will be very sad and unbecoming and a major setback to the world if the Bring Back Our Girls campaign should frustrate that meeting."

Mr Okupe continued: “Malala broke down in tears” adding that “they agreed with her that if she made that appointment they will go.”

Commenting further during the interview, Okupe described the incident as an unpleasant development in the bid to rescue the kidnapped girls and added that “yesterday was really a dark day; a very unfortunate day that we had a very unpleasant development in this issue of Chibok”.

* Pakistani advocate, Malala

The special adviser debunked claims that Malala’s visit prompted the invitation, stating that President Jonathan has formally written to the Chibok Community to see him.

He said the president has assured Nigerians that “he will do everything within his power to ensure that he brings the girls back safely”.

Mr Okupe said the President has sent a fresh letter of invitation to the community for another meeting to be scheduled for next week.

* Mrs Oby Ezekwesili

In a related development, a leader of the Chibok Community in Abuja, Mr Dauda Iliya, has blamed the refusal of the members of the community to meet with Mr President on the suspicion that lies between the Chibok Community and the Federal Government.

Also speaking on Sunrise Daily, Mr Iliya said “as a nation and as a people we have been traumatised; we have gone through a lot. There is suspicion between the Chibok people and government across board”.

* Some of the abducted schoolgirls in a video posted by Boko Haram sect

He cited the “ugly incident where wives of some Chibok elders in Abuja were detained at the instance of the first lady” following a protest some days after the abduction as one of the reasons for such suspicion.

Meanwhile, the leadership of the #BringBackOurGirls campaigners has denied the allegation of being behind the refusal of the parents of the abducted girls to meet with President Jonathan.

It would be recalled that over 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State by a group of Boko Haram terrorists on 14 April, 2014.

Some of the abducted girls have managed to escape from their captors, while others are still being held by the terrorists.

The leader of Boko Haram, Abubabkar Shekau, had said he would only release the girls in exchange for some of his brethren in Nigerian military prisons.

However, the Federal Government and the President of Nigeria have said they would negotiate with the terrorists, promising to ensure that the schoolgirls are to be rescued from the Islamist sect by other means.

Source: Legit.ng