by Chinenye Ugonna
Apparently traumatised by the protracted wait for the rescue of the over 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram insurgents from their hostels in Chibok, Borno State, parents have given up hope and are demanding a military invasion of hostage camps not minding the cost.
PREMIUM TIMES caught up with the chairman of Chibok Local government, Tsambido Hosea, in Abuja last Friday during a protest to mark the 130th day since the girls have been in captivity.
Mr. Tsambido said the parents are unable to move on with their lives, with their kids still in the custody of terrorists in some forests.
He said the parents of the victims were seeking a logical end to their trauma either by burial or reunion.
“If the Federal government has that capacity, let them go into the Sambisa. If there are some that God said would be rescued, they can be rescued by the force and if some have gone, it’s better (to know) than this entire trauma the parents are going through,” he said.
He said the parents want to bury their children if they are dead so they can forge ahead with their lives instead of living with uncertainty, not knowing if their children are dead or alive.
This abduction of schoolgirls on April 15 disrupted the lives of many in Nigeria, with some sympathetic Nigerians along with the Chibok community organising marches and protests to create awareness and force the Federal Government to be proactive on the issue.
A group termed the BringBackourGirls movement have been protesting on the streets of Abuja since a week after the hostages were taken demanding their rescue, to the chagrin of the government. They meet at the Unity Fountain Maitama every day at 3pm. They said they will not stop meeting until the girls are brought back alive and well.
Listen to Mr Hosea below.
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Read transcript below
The parents say they don’t care about their life but let them go in. If they can take care of this Boko Haram, so that they will not spread to other places. So that they cannot continue with their menace.
Let the girls be sacrificial lambs. That’s what they told me yesterday.
I phoned them, that I know that I am going to face some interviews today. What is your opinion? So this their opinion.
Actually, if the federal government has that capacity, let them go into the Sambisa. If there are some that God said will be rescued, it can be rescued by the force.
And if some has gone, its okay, than all this troubles, than all this trauma the parents are going through now.
They cannot do anything. But had it been they buried them, they would have forged ahead with their lives.
They are saying let the government go into the forest. Even the corpse, let them bring the corpse of the children so that they will bury them properly.
What they are saying is that these girls in the bush, it is better for the government, to go in with the force, with the army might to bring them even the corpse for them, so that they can bury them properly.
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