July 4, 2014
Leadership
Parents of the abducted schoolgirls and many residents of Chibok have expressed concern over the almost three months captivity of the girls by Boko Haram terrorists, saying that they are left with no option than to storm Sambisa Forest for the rescue of the girls and if need be die in the process.
The parents added that they would be happy to receive the corpses of their daughters for decent burial and mourn them than having them with the terrorists without knowing what is happening to them.
Some of the parents disclosed this during a telephone interview with our correspondent in Maiduguri yesterday.
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But the Borno State chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Reverend Titus Pona, has stated that stakeholders in the area are now begging distraught parents not to embark on the deadly mission.
Pona, who spoke with LEADERSHIP Friday from Chibok, his home town yesterday, said his people are in a complete state of despair and have already started mobilising themselves in order to risk their lives by going in search of the girls inside the Sambisa Forest.
He said, “We have been trying our best to console the poor parents who have been badly devastated by the kidnap of their girls; the situation is very pathetic in Chibok town and the people are begging to take actions on their own.
“We have been pleading with them not to embark on such dangerous mission into the forest; that is what we can do for now; but how long are we going to continue holding them down?
“We went round to see some of the parents and their families; it was a very pathetic sight; some of them were crying and asking that they would be happy to receive the corpses of their daughters so that they can bury them and mourn them decently, than having them out there in the bush, without knowing what is happening to them”.
Pona said as religious leaders, they have done what they could do to console the parents, who feel government is not doing enough to rescue the girls and bring them out of their present psychological trauma.
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‘Boko Haram can only be defeated if corruption ends’
An Italian nun, Enza Guccione, has declared that Boko Haram can only be defeated if corruption ends in the country.
According to Enza, Nigerian terror group Boko Haram’s deadly attacks will only end if corruption is eliminated in the country.
Drawing on her years of experience in the country, the Nigeria-based Italian nun said Boko Haram insurgency is as a result of Nigeria’s internal instability and politicians’ lack of effort to promote the country’s development.
“I believe Nigerian politics famous for its great corruption does not aim at promoting the country’s development,” Sister Enza told IBTimes UK.
“Politicians’ only interest is to get rich by exploiting the country’s oil. There is a continuous fight over oil production.”
Alluding to this spate of scandals, Sister Enza said: “Boko Haram will stop only when politicians’ corruption ends.
“To defeat terrorism, leaders must build a solid future for the nation by providing education for everybody, creating jobs for the youths, using the country’s natural resources to help Nigerians and guaranteeing the recognition of basic human rights to all the citizens.”
“If the insurgency is a religious war, Boko Haram would have focused their attacks on the southwest of Nigeria, instead of the north, mainly inhabited by Muslims and which is close to Muslim-majority countries Chad, Niger and Cameroon,” she said.
Terror war: Police top brass holds emergency meeting
The inspector-general of police, Mohammed Abubakar, yesterday convened an emergency meeting of the Police High Command to appraisal the ongoing war against Boko Haram insurgents.
Police spokesman ACP Frank Mba made this known yesterday in a statement made available to LEADERSHIP. He said the IGP urged zonal AIGs and the command CPs to evolve new intelligence-gathering and crime-fighting techniques.