Jonathan’s response to Chibok girls’ kidnap poor – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday said the
conflicting reports that emanated from the Federal
Government and the security forces in the days shortly
after the over 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped in Chibok,
Borno State last year portrayed the government of
former President Goodluck Jonathan in a bad light
locally and internationally.

He said he could not rationalise the past government’s
incompetence in dealing with the issue, saying he could
only ask for patience.
Buhari spoke while granting audience to members of
the BringBackOurG irls group, a pressure group set up to
continue to clamour for the rescue of the abducted
girls.

The President said, “It is unfortunate that the security
and Federal Government’s conflicting reports initially
presented the government and its agencies in a very
bad light both nationally and internationally.
“This is because the law enforcement agencies and the
government were conflicting each other sometimes
within hours or within weeks, that is not very
impressive.
“The delayed and late reaction by the former
government and its agencies was very unfortunate as I
said…
“I think you will agree with me that the present
government takes the issue very seriously. Within a
week of being sworn in, I visited Niger, Chad and would
have visited Cameroon but for the invitation of the G-7
to go to Germany

“I am very impressed with the fact that the leadership
of this important group and the United Nations itself,
are very concerned about the security in Nigeria which
led to the abduction of the Chibok girls by the
terrorists.
“When the terrorists announced their loyalty to ISIS, the
whole attention again was brought squarely to Nigeria.
And now we are rated with Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.
This is very unfortunate.”

The President also insisted that members of the Boko
Haram sect could not claim to be propagating Islam,
saying they should consider changing their name to
something else.
“We are pleased that in the excesses of the terrorists,
they have blown themselves.
“I think they have to change their names from Boko
Haram to something else, because no religion will kill
the innocents.

“You can’t go and kill innocent people and say ‘Allah
Akbar!’ It is either you don’t believe it or you don’t
know what you are saying.
“So, it has nothing to do with religion; they are just
terrorists and Nigeria will mobilise against all of them,”
he added.
The President said he was still compiling the shopping
list requested from him by the G-7 leaders.

While saying that the military had submitted its own
list, Buhari said he was still waiting for the governors of
the frontline states who he had told to compile the list
of infrastructure lost to insurgency such as roads,
schools, markets and places of worship.
One of the leaders of the group, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, told
the President that one of their major demands from the
government was the immediate rescue of the Chibok
girls.

Ezekwesili, a former Minister of Education, said the
abducted girls had stayed far beyond the acceptable
period in the hands of terrorists.
She said the government needed to apologise for the
failure that led to the girls’ abduction and its inability
to rescue them.

Ezekwesili also called on the Federal Government to set
up a commission of inquiry for accountability on the
abduction and rescue of the girls.
While calling for the adoption of the identification,
verification and reintegration of abducted citizens’
strategy, Ezekwesili also called for the creation of what
she called National Missing Persons Bureau for the
country.

She also called on Buhari to release the report of the
presidential fact-finding committee that was set up by
the Jonathan’s administration in the wake of the
abduction.
Another leader of the group, Mariam Uwais, said they
would not relent in their demand for the rescue of the
girls.
The Chairman of the Kibaku Area Development
Association, Dauda Illiya, asked the President to fulfill
this promise by treating the safe return of the girls as a
top priority.

He also pleaded with Buhari to visit Chibok within the
first 100 days of this administration “to have a
firsthand view of the plight of our people, while we look
forward to the safe return of our daughters very soon.”
Two parents of the abducted girls wept as they
addressed Buhari in Hausa.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, security chiefs and other
top government officials joined the President to receive
the team.