110 girls in terrorists’ den – Chibok community

on Wednesday,The Kibaku Area Development Association, also known as Chibok Community, restated neglect of the over 100 school girls abducted by Boko Haram terrorists in 2014.

They said since the mass abduction of the 276 of their daughters in April, 2014, wherein 57 escaped (on their own), 110 of them are still unaccounted for.

According to them, the release of the remaining Abuja- Kaduna train attack victims had shown clearly that the Federal Government had abandoned Chibok community, including their children that were abducted in Chibok Girls’ Secondary School, Borno State.

The National President of KADA, Dauda Iliya, said the matter of the abducted Chibok girls and the unending attacks on their communities were still persisting.

He was reacting to the statement by the Secretary, Chief of Defence Staff Action Committee, Prof. Usman Yusuf, that all the 23 remaining passengers abducted from a Kaduna-bound train on March 28, 2022, had been released by their abductors.

Iliya said, “The issue of the abandonment of the Chibok School Girls has come forth again following the release of the remaining abducted train victims largely due to efforts of the Federal Government and especially the Military under the Chief of Defence Staff, Lucky Irabor.

“The statement in particular has caused the Chibok people pain and caused us despair and a deep feeling of neglect and abandonment by the Federal Government.”

He said that despite not releasing their girls, the Chibok community had been facing an unprecedented attacks from terrorists.

“The latest attack in Chibok happened only on October 3, 2022, in Njlang, a village just 5km away from Chibok”, Iliya said.

He called on the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rerd.), to rescue Chibok community, an ethnic nationality, from total annihilation by the Boko Haram terrorists.

“The parents and the community have continued to be subjected to persistent and sustained attacks, killings, abductions, maiming, arson and other myriads of criminality without adequate government protection. Chibok has been for all intents and purposes abandoned to its own devices by all layers of government in Nigeria.

“The government and the security agencies are handling the rehabilitation of the escaped/rescued girls without involvement of the parents and publicly parading them to make statements that appear coercive without reuniting with their parents.

“Right from late 2012 up to this time, the statistics of the state of damage and destruction of lives and property inflicted on the community presents a worrisome and pathetic picture: Number of attacks: over 72; persons killed: over 407; persons abducted: over 332; houses/businesses burnt: unquantifiable; churches burnt: over 20; vehicles stolen: many; grains’ barns burnt or destroyed: unquantifiable”, Iliya said.

The association said from late 2018 to date, the frequency of attacks and level of destruction had escalated and were simply alarming.

KADA said, “Just this year 2022 alone, Kautikari (second largest town in the Chibok area) was attacked on January 14 with five girls abducted, three persons killed, many houses and churches burnt, etc.

“In sustaining their carnage, Piyemi, another big town in Chibok area, was attacked on January 20 with 19 persons (mostly girls) abducted and one person, the Vigilante leader, beheaded. The town was practically razed down and virtually all the recently harvested agricultural produce completely burnt down and/or looted. Chibok is predominantly an agrarian community and the whole year’s harvests have been lost to these sustained and targeted attacks posing serious food security concerns in the community.

“We request the Federal Government to order deployment of more military personnel as well as better arms to Chibok to halt the continuous attacks on the community.

“We also appeal to our action Governor to do more in organising and helping our people in securing our state in general and Chibok in particular.”

(PUNCH)