Kidnapped Girls: Chibok women protest in Abuja

“Our daughters were carried away by the insurgents like cows into the wilderness. If they are dead; we want to see their corpses.”

Some women of Chibok, Borno State, on Tuesday marched to Nigeria’s National Assembly, urging the Federal Government to intensify efforts to rescue the remaining 230 female students abducted two weeks ago.

The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that 273 girls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno, by suspected Boko Haram insurgents on April 14.

Of the number, 43 girls had so far escaped from their abductors unharmed.

However, the women, led by Naomi Mutah, said since the incident, no government official had reached the community to explain the efforts being made to rescue the girls.

“Our daughters were carried away by the insurgents like cows into the wilderness. If they are dead; we want to see their corpses. For the past two weeks that the incident occurred, nobody has talked to us; has the government thrown away the bath water with the baby?’’

Mrs. Mutah said that they came to Abuja to express their dissatisfaction with the way the rescue effort of their kidnapped daughters was being handled.

“We have come here to express our dismay, probably if the government sees us like this; it may ginger them to do what they are supposed to do.

“We want government to rescue our daughters from their abductors’’, she said.

Earlier, Barnabas Gemade, who addressed the women on behalf of the Senate President, David Mark, said the National Assembly was saddened by the incident.

“I want to assure that the Senate is not sleeping, senate is not reneging on its responsibility but is working very hard that something is done very urgently on this matter,” he said.

Mr. Gemade said the first issue handled by the senate when it resumed on Tuesday was a motion on the abduction.

He assured the women that government was doing everything possible to address the issue without further delay.

Helen Esuene and Zainab Kure, both senators, also appealed to the protesters to remain calm, assuring them that the matter was being addressed.

Ali Ndume, a Borno South senator, also came to address them.

Mr. Ndume, addressing journalists later, urged security agencies to intensify their search and rescue the girls.

“There is no other solution than intensifying action whether by seeking external support or by engaging everybody to make sure that these girls are returned to their parents.

“The longer it takes, the dimmer the chances, the longer it takes, the more traumatising it is for the family, especially the girls, who find themselves in that condition’’, he said.

Mr. Ndume, who could not hold back tears while addressing the women, said only God knows what the girls were passing through in the hands of their abductors.

The women, dressed in black, had converged on Eagle Square before marching to the National Assembly and handed a letter to Mr. Gemade for onward delivery to the leadership of National Assembly.