President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday insisted that his government is currently not in possession of any credible information on the whereabouts of the 219 girls kidnapped by the Boko Hara sect from the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State in April 2014.
Buhari said he told the nation the same thing during his maiden media chat in December because it is not in his nature to lie.
The leader of the BringBackOurGirls campaigners, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, disclosed this to reporters while briefing them of the outcome of the meeting they had with Buhari behind closed-doors inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Ezekwesili said the President also told them that he expected them to appreciate what government was doing to rescue the girls.
The former minister said: “What the President essentially said is that his statement during the media chat that they do not have credible intelligence, that he was being truthful in the way that he knows how to be and that he was not prepared to tell any lies.
“He insisted that they do not have the kind of reliable intelligence that would enable them rescue the girls as immediately as we are demanding.
“He said that we would continue to try to bear with him and that based on the fact that the government has recorded considerable success in decimating Boko Haram and its hold over the North East Zone and that what remains is the matter of rescuing our Chibok girls and other affected citizens that are in abduction.
“He said therefore we will have to wait and that they would make the effort.
“He pleaded with the parents that his government would place as much efforts to rescuing the girls and that was the same message he had given to them before and that he was repeating the same message.
“The President stated that he would also have expected us to acknowledge the efforts that they have so far made and that we failed to acknowledge the efforts they have made, but that he wishes that we would agree that he is very committed to the matter of our Chibok girls.
“He used the specific phrase that he sleeps and wakes up thinking about the rescue of our girls.”
Ezekwesili however said the movement also demanded for a fresh investigation into the circumstances that led to the girls’ abduction.
“So we are demanding that this administration will quickly agree with the demands of these parents that new investigation be made even as General Sabo report is being disclosed.”
Ezekwesili had in a speech she read to the President said her team decided to visit him again after six months to register their dissatisfaction on what she called lack of progress.
She said: “Our Chibok Girls are neither rescued nor have the measures the Federal Government pledged been instituted.
“Our disappointment was worse recently when Mr. President shocked the parents into a deeper throes of agony when you publicly gave the excuse that ‘there is no credible information about the girls’ whereabouts’ as the reason our Chibok Girls have not been rescued.
“That ‘lack of credible intelligence’ remark, Mr. President, left the parents, the community, our movement, and the rest of the world all the more shocking considering that the same Federal Government that made their rescue a key indicator of success and defeat of Boko Haram went ahead to declare victory on 31st December.
“How can we declare that our nation has won the war when our 219 daughters and other abducted victims are still not back? The parents of our Chibok girls whom you successfully persuaded at our July 8 had following that meeting told our movement that they had implicit trust in the words of Mr. President that ‘everything will be done to rescue our daughters.’
“They specifically asked the movement to give the administration the cooperation you had asked for during the meeting. We did so but refused to end our daily advocacy at the Unity Fountain which by today is DAY 625.
“Mr. President, it is extremely saddening that those same parents who had placed their implicit confidence in your July 8 promise to rescue their daughters are here today terribly traumatised, disconsolate and desperate for your reassurance and outline of convincing decisive action that would bring a positive closure to this historical tragedy.
“There is no better way to convey the depth of the devastation of these parents than the fact that we today have the largest ever contingent of them who despite their meagre resources have paid their way to travel to Abuja in order to register their angst, disappointment demand for immediate rescue of their daughters by Mr. President and the military.”
A drama had played out in the morning when the campaigners arrived the Presidential Villa and realised that Buhari was not scheduled to meet them as expected.
Rather, the President had sent a government delegation led by the Minister of Women Affairs, Aisha Al-Hassan, to receive the protesters on his behalf at the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa.
Al-Hassan had set the tone of the meeting when she said the government delegation would first listen to representatives of the BBOG and the girls’ parents before she and other members of her team would respond appropriately.
But the highly infuriated Ezekwesili told the government delegation that consisted the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Alli; the National Security Adviser, Babagana Mongunu; and the Chief of Defence Staff, Abayomi Olonishakin, that they would not speak to any other person apart from the President.
She said: “We had a meeting with the President on July 8 (2015) and he made some promises.
“We are here to listen to him.
“We are going to wait until he is ready to see us.”
The leader of the parents also said the same thing when he was called to address the government officials.
When all efforts made to pacify the delegation did not yield any positive result, the government delegation sent a message to the President.
Buhari was receiving the visiting President of Benin Republic, Boni Yayi, in his office while the drama was playing out.
Immediately Yayi left, the President changed his mind and decided to meet the protesters personally.
The message was thereafter passed to the protesters.
On his arrival at about 1:47pm, journalists were asked to go out of the venue to allow the President speak and listen to the campaigners behind closed-doors.
He left the venue about an hour later.
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