Boko Haram: Mark begs for release of abducted schoolgirls

Senate President David Mark has described the ab­duction of female students of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State as “embarrassingly sacrile­gious,” even as he pleaded with their captors to listen to the voices of reason and set them free.

In a statement issued in Abuja yesterday, Senator Mark said as a parent, he understood the harrowing experience of the students in the hands of their captors, the mental and psychologi­cal torture of their parents and guardians.

He restated the need for wise counsel to prevail on their captors to release them. He maintained that “no ra­tional being can justify the abduction of these children whose only offence was that they chose to go to school to better their lots and contrib­ute to the socio-economic and political development of their fatherland.

“The situation is fast de­grading and devaluing us as against the age-long cher­ished love for our youths. It is a sad commentary and a terrible assault on our psyche as a people. In the good old days of Nigeria, this was a taboo and unargu­ably unheard of.”

He canvassed for synergy among security agencies to do all that was needed to res­cue the girls from their cap­tors, saying that the deterio­rating situation was making a mockery of the country.

He added: “We should all know that there is the Al­mighty God above all. This lack of human feelings and display of impunity is cer­tainly not a way of life.

“The perpetrators should rethink and give peace a chance. “Let us go back to the basics and live like true Af­ricans.”