Shettima: Doubts over Chibok school girls abduction more painful than the abduction

…. Approves N150m for rehabilitation of escaped girls Governor Kashim Shettima yesterday says the doubt expressed by someNigerians over the abduction of girls at a Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State pains him more than the abduction itself.   Shettima stated this when the Presidential Fact Finding Committee on the abduction of the 276 girls […]

…. Approves N150m for rehabilitation of escaped girls

Governor Kashim Shettima yesterday says the doubt expressed by someNigerians over the abduction of girls at a Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State pains him more than the abduction itself.

 

Shettima stated this when the Presidential Fact Finding Committee on the abduction of the 276 girls visited him at the Government House in Maiduguri.  

Our correspondent recalled that dozens of Boko Haram insurgents stormed and wrecked havoc on Chibok town on April 14^th and thereafter proceeded to the Government Girls Secondary School in the area and kidnapped the final year students.

 

Few days after, prominent Nigerians, including wife of the President Dame Patience Jonathan, Women Leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Mrs Kema Chikwe, erstwhile Niger Delta militant leader, Asari Dokubo among others expressed doubts over the abduction.

 

But Governor Shettima yesterday told the Presidential Committee that he was deeply pained by the development.

 

“Doubts over that abduction pained me far more than the childish theory that as Government, we staged that abduction in order to create basis to stop the extension of emergency rule in Borno. By the way, that theory doesn’t make the slightest sense. In relation to that theory, if a Government doesn’t want extension of emergency and chooses to fake happenings, the Government should rather deny that the abduction ever took place, evil as that is, because the abduction is enough basis for the emergency extension given the fact that the incident puts a message across that there is a new and big threat to students in schools hence the need for the extension of emergency rule” Shettima said.

 

According to him, “In the last three years, we have witnessed the most turbulent of times as a people. I have seen very terrible incidents as a Governor. I have come across innocent citizens of Borno killed in thousands, some slaughtered by fellow human beings who think they earn rewards from God by their brutality. I have witnessed high scale of destructions inflicted on us as a people in Borno by fellow human beings who again think they earn reward from God by their intentional and planned devastations.

“I have in the last 36 days, also come across a situation where men abducted young, innocent schoolgirls, separated them from their education, from their parents, from their relations and friends and from their environment and more disturbing also, attempted to separate them from their own religion out of compulsion. To every other Muslim, worldwide, these men that kill, destroy and abduct, insult Islam by calling themselves Muslims. They have contradicted
every single tenet of the Islamic religion,” he said.

 

He added that “The Chibok incident has grossly exposed our weighty weakness of leaders in terms of assuming shared responsibility. In the two or three months, the entire western world mobilized men and resources, contributed so much funds in the search for a Malaysian airline which is believed to have crashed into the ocean. Majority in the western world, suspect that the crew and passengers of that Malaysian airline are most probably dead.

 

“Despite that, massive investment was and still being deployed in the search for whatever can be found as remains of those in that plane and its wreckage. Now, while that is going on, here in Nigeria, there was a report that over 200 human creatures, young Nigerian girls about completing their secondary school education, where attacked in their school at night and whisked away like slaves in ancient years.

And some Nigerians, one of them a former Minister and one time member of the Federal Executive Council which is the highest decision making body of this country, worst of all, a woman and a mother came out to cast doubt over the abduction of these abduction.

 

“That woman completely disregarded the sensitivity of that issue, the pains of the agonizing parents and our pains as a Government, to whom, the parents of these girls, cry out in desperation and unimaginable confusion and anguish. Every other unreasonable Nigerian that came to adopt that view only anchored the unfortunate view that was first expressed by Mrs Kema Chikwe.

Doubt over that abduction pained me as much as the incident its self.” The Governor said.

 

The Governor lamented on the way the issue of the schoolgirls is being politicized, adding that even religion was brought in for the purpose of blame trade.  

 

“It hurts me however, that there was no kind of politics that was not introduced into that unfortunate Chibok incident. Even religion was brought in, all for the purpose of blame trade. The politics didn’t help anybody at the end of the day.”

He explained that the state government delayed rendering assistance to the rescued girls or Chibok community due to the doubt cast on the abduction in some quarters.

“Soon after the incident, we thought that our 53 daughters that either witnessed that attack or escaped from abduction be flown abroad for psychological counseling and some medical examinations. But then, with politics of doubt over the abduction, if the state government had flown these girls abroad, the doubting Thomas’s would have gotten what to fly about to claim that the 53 girls were none existent or they would have probably said, we were taking the girls away from the public, probably we had something to hide” Shettima said.   

The Governor explained that his government will not continue to fold up its arms and ignore the sufferings of the parents and the 53 girls for fear of accusations.

“So, are we going to continue to ignore these suffering parents and the 53 girls just because we are afraid of political accusations and false interpretations? The answer is No. Governance entails making a decision with sincerity of purpose and for the good of society.” He added.

The Governor announced that the sum of N150 million have been set aside to fund the rehabilitation programme for the 53 and to support parents in Chibok whose source of livelihood have been truncated by their trauma.   

“ The state government is already in touch with key international organizations and a plan of action has already been proposed by the Ministry of Health in the state on issues relating to the well being of the 53 girls as well as their colleagues soon as they are freed, insha Allah. We are very optimistic that they will be freed.” He said.

 

According to him, this year alone the government has spent close to N1 billion on communities attacked by insurgent and added that assistance to Chibok was delayed due to politics involved.