We thought Chibok girls would be rescued in 2 weeks -#BringBackOurGirls#

You ave been here for 71 days, so far, how has it been?It’s a mixed feeling. When the first protest happened and we marched to the National Assembly and we were drenched by rain and we presented our demands to the leadership of the national assembly, I thought that in two weeks maximum, our girls […]

You ave been here for 71 days, so far, how has it been?
It’s a mixed feeling. When the first protest happened and we marched to the National Assembly and we were drenched by rain and we presented our demands to the leadership of the national assembly, I thought that in two weeks maximum, our girls will be rescued but days have turned into weeks and weeks into months and I keep asking myself when will these girls be rescued?
Again, within that time, we have had some cheering news, some of the girls escaped. We had some bad news as well, some of the parents of the girls have died. When last we checked about seven of them had died while waiting for their girls to return. A couple of days back we also heard that about 30 of the girls have escaped again and we are happy to have some of our girls back.

From what you have said it is like there is this growing feeling of despair as days pass by, does that cut across the group or is that a personal feeling?
I don’t see it as feeling of despair, I see it as a reality check. I mean many people left their work to converge here and demand for the safe rescue of our girls and something we thought would be done in weeks has now run into months and it is dawning on us that we are in for  a long haul. But we will do whatever it takes within the ambit of legality as constitutionally allowed by our government to bring back our girls safe and alive.

Does that mean your group’s protests haven’t had much impact on the efforts to bring back the girls safe and alive; and will you be exploring other options?
I think we have recorded some successes. When we started the first protest the government was not even talking about the girls but by the time we marched to the National Assembly, the leadership promised that they were going to meet with the President to discuss the issue and they did meet that night.
A couple of days after that the President had a media chat, where among other things, he specifically focused on the issue of the missing girls. We have made several marches to the office of the Chief of Defence Staff and met with the Borno State Government, where the commissioner of Education briefed us on what plans they have on how to rehabilitate the girls when they are rescued.
So we have been able to record some successes. We have been able also to galvanise a global campaign on BringBackOurGirls. We have people who  by  watching what we have been doing concerning the issue in Nigeria, in the media, have also supported us.
I must say that we are focused on a single issue. This is a peaceful protest and we will do whatever is possible that is within our powers to make sure that our girls are brought back alive.

Are you satisfied with government’s handling of the entire Chibok saga?
The biggest thing that the government has done is just provide information. The little information the government has given out to the public has not brought relief to our anguished hearts that government is doing its best to rescue the girls.
The body language of the President too has not shown that rescuing the girls is top on his priority. Even in terms of landmass, size and population, Borno State is five times the size of Ekiti State but the President at the Paris security summit said only 20, 000 troops have been deployed in the entire north-east region to fight insurgency. So in terms of priority, the President and his security forces have not shown us that rescuing the girls is top on their list.
We know what happened in Israel when three teenagers were missing. The Preisent addressed his country three times in a space of one week. Not only that, the president deployed troops who conducted house to house search. Unfortunately they were not found alive but it was clear that the President didn’t leave any stone unturned in the search for the teenagers and we want that kind of approach in Nigeria.

It’s getting to three months since the girls were kidnapped from their school and it seems like decades. What is the general mood in this BringBackOurGirls group?   
It’s a long time but we cannot afford to lose hope. We are dissappointed that it has taken long but if the girls are rescued today, it will be a thing of joy for everybody in Nigeria, in fact for the entire world. So as much as we are not happy that it has taken this long, we have hope because as at the last time that we had any form of evidence that the girls were still alive through a video that was released by Boko Haram a couple of weeks back.
An expert counted and said at least 220 to 240 of the girls were shown in the video. We want to believe that all of them are alive and by the grace of God they will be rescued any moment from now.

Without sounding negative, what if they are not rescued, do you have any plan on what next to do?
Beyond the rescue of the girls, we want an overhaul of the entire security response to the insurgency in the north. There is a United Nations (UN) report that says there had been 18 attacks in the last two weeks and we want these attacks to stop in order to ensure the security of lives and property; especially the lives of women and children. As it is now I am not sure if 200 hundred or more girls will again be kidnapped, because we have not seen or read about a robust security response to the security challenges there.
Even if the girls are not rescued now, measures should be put in place so that such a thing does not occur again. We have heard about government’s Safe School Initiative but we do not know the details of that; we however hope that that is the beginning of many good things that will come to ensure the security of lives and property.

You talked about galvanising global action on the issue of the missing girls, can you in specific terms point out what that has helped to achieve?
A number of things have happened. People have been inspired by what we have been doing here. As at the last count over 60 events have been heard in more than 30 countries across the world.
Different events happened in Pakistan, Afganistan, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Malaysia and several other countries across world. I was in Belgium in the last couple of weeks and I met with the youngest member of parliament there and he promised to take up the issue in the Belgium parliament.

You earlier had an altercation with security agencies here at Unity Fountain and now they have accussed you of being sponsored. Are you in anyway motivated to carry out this protest?
We didn’t have an altercation, so to speak, with the security forces. What happened was a misunderstanding and it appeared the police did not understand their job, which is to protect lives and property. We thank God the issue was resolved amicably and we are allowed to go on with our sit-out.  
Our only motivation is to inspire action to bring back our girls safe and alive. In terms of monetary motivation, it’s a ‘big no’, because we are a pressure group that is peaceful and law-abiding and our only concern is to see the girls return safe to their families.