At last, Jonathan meets Chibok girls

Exactly 99 days after members of the Boko Haram sect stormed Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State and forcibly took away over 200 students, President Goodluck Jonathan finally met with parents of the abducted girls, those that managed to escape from their abductors, some community and opinion leaders of the war-torn community.
The president, who had not visited the community since that unfortunate incident, with the meeting, only kept his promise to teenage Pakistani girl-child education campaigner, Malala Yousafzai, when she came visiting three weeks back.
It is noteworthy that the meeting tagged “Special meeting of the President with the parents of the abducted Chibok Girls”, was held in the Banquet hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, several kilometers away from Chibok which is still under the siege of the sect members just like the neighbouring communities.
Before the president’s arrival, the Chibok delegation wore a sad look. Some of them actually had tears running down their cheeks. They did not turn out in their Sunday best despite the fact that they were meeting with the President. Their pain could not be hidden, not even the elaborately decorated hall could arouse their curiosity to take a walk around the venue they were entering for the first time.
They stayed put in the area demarcated for parents, escapee school girls, community/opinion leaders respectively.
Not even the music supplied by the Brigade of Guard’s Band or that of Timi Dakolo loud from the public address system could make them smile a little. It was as if they were determined to make the president feel a pinch of what they have been through since that sad day when their children, friends, sisters were abducted.
Earlier, they were ferried to the venue in four red luxury buses belonging to the Abuja Urban Mass Transport Company Limited. They walked into the venue in a single file.
Flood of emotions
One of those privileged to attend, as journalists were barred from the meeting, described it as the most emotional meeting he ever attended. He said it was the moment of truth from both sides‎ of the divide.
The president met with four categories of people from Chibok and they include 51 escaped girls, parents of escaped girls, parents of girls still in captivity as well as opinion and community leaders.
Jonathan was joined in the meeting by the President of the Senate, David Mark; Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State; Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State; National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, Ministers of Information, Labaran Maku, Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Education, Ibrahim Shakarau and Interior, Abba Moro, Water Resources, Sarah Ochekpe, and other Federal Executive Council members.
Journalists were asked to leave the venue at about 11.20am when the meeting started and were not allowed to interview any of the persons at 1.56pm when it ended.
The Chibok delegation was guided by armed security operatives even when they had their lunch at the end of the meeting and when they got back to the buses, all in a bid to stop news hungry journalists who had planned to have a big day interviewing especially the escaped girls.
They were led into waiting buses by a combined team of operatives of the Department of State Security Service and policemen.
The meeting afforded the Borno State governor, ‎Kashim Shettima, the opportunity to become the president’s unsolicited spokesman. The governor that before now had blamed the federal government including the president ‎for the insurgency in his state, admitted for the first time that Jonathan has no hand in the crisis which he claimed started 25 years ago.
Home truth from Shettima
He also said ever since the abduction of the girls, he had since stopped playing politics, saying “to hell with politics.”
He said: “I trained as agricultural economist, I am banker by profession and a politician by calling but I consider myself as an accidental politician.
“I often call a spade not by any other thing but by its name yet it has gotten me into trouble a lot of times. ‎But ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you quite emphatically that the problem of Boko Haram was not created by President Goodluck Jonathan. It was a problem that he inherited, agreed the buck stops on his desk, but this is a problem that has been there for the past 20, 25 years. It cannot be stopped overnight.
“Problems in the security establishments were not created by him. It is a problem that can be situated in the last 25 or 30 years. The major acquisitions were made during the Shagari era. During the intervention by the military and civilian rule nothing much was accomplished.
And I want to assure you that I am of the APC but the problems confronting us go beyond politics. Since the abduction of the Chibok girls I have stopped playing politics. I have not gone to the APC convention, I do not attend any of the NEC meetings, because I believe that the survival of our people surpasses our own political survival. To hell with politics. It is God that gives power to whom He wills and at appointed time.
Jonathan has done much
We have very competent people, Doyin Okupe my pairing partner is here, Reuben Abati, a very eloquent gentleman is here who can adequately defend Mr. President but I am just making this fact very clear to you all. I am privy to information on a lot of efforts that should not be ‎discussed on this platform but believe me my brothers and sisters, the federal government is making strenuous efforts to address the challenges facing us as a nation.
“And we are living in interesting times and interesting times like this call for sobriety, patience, magnanimity and unity of purpose. I want to assure you that I am willing, the government and people of Borno State are willing to give total loyalty and support to the federal government under President Goodluck Jonathan to address the issues of security confronting us.
We’ve lost sleep
Mr. President, 80 per cent of my people from Chibok do not sleep in their homes, but in bushes. What we are begging, imploring, and beseeching  for you is ‎massive infusion of security personnel into Chibok, Gwazo, Kukawa, Bio, Haw, and the whole of Borno State. Of the 27 LGAs of the state, more than 10 are in very precarious situations.”
The insurgency in the north has rendered many homeless with many of them now refugees in some neighbouring states and countries with Bauchi alone having over two million refugees.
First hand information
The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, speaking on the outcome of the meeting described it as ‎successful and good development as the president heard directly from the persons involved.
“It was a successful event and a good development because Mr. President had always been looking forward to this opportunity. Before now he had met with various stakeholders on the matter but today he heard directly from the persons involved.
Statements were made by all the representatives of people. They spoke their minds and conveyed their feelings to the president. The girls who escaped also gave an account of what they went through. Mr. President reassured them of the federal government’s determination and his own personal determination to ensure that the girls that are still in captivity are brought out alive. That is the main objective of the government. Mr. President also used the opportunity to empathise with the parents and the girls and to reassure them that everything will be done to make things easier for them, especially those who have escaped and the ones that will also be rescued, that their education will not in any way suffer and he is convinced that evil will never prevail over good.
“Mr. President further assured that after the battle has been won and the girls are brought back home, he, together with the parents and the state government will focus on development, on building Chibok, on building all that the terrorists had destroyed and on ensuring that every child, either in Chibok or in any other part of the country, has his/her dream realized.”
They left happy
Abati said ‎the parents of the Chibok girls were happy at the end of the meeting and everyone was in high spirit.
Asked the specific promises made to the girls, Abati said, “Mr. President made it clear that their education won’t be truncated. The government is making efforts to place these young girls in other schools and that they should not be afraid about their future because everything will be done to protect their right to education”.
On the allegations that those in the meeting were not the real parents of the girls, Abati said: “The parents made it clear that they are representatives of other parents. And you can see that we have over 200 people coming from Chibok.
“The girls spoke in great details about their experiences and their observations. It was an open and frank session in which all expressed their minds.”
Speaking on the outcome of the meeting, Mike Omeri, the Coordinator of the National Information Centre, said: “What came out clear is the commitment of the government of the Borno State and the willingness of the community to work and wait on the government to do what is right towards rescuing their children.
“Of course there is no other option, it is not an easy thing to go in and out, having known where the girls are. It is not just easy to release them overnight, but with definitive action, because these girls are held by people whose minds cannot be easily controlled in a manner that you will expect them to.
“So, you need to be careful in the actions you take, even in the way we speak to ensure that the operational methods are not in any way jeopardized.
“So, the parents and all Nigerians have shown the indication to wait as the process continues and they have so far, demonstrated that on the present that at least they know that the government is doing its best to get the children out.”
The Bauchi State governor, Yuguda disclosed that the state was housing over two million refugees, adding that though they were happy to be their brothers’ keeper, it has put strain on the state’s resources.
According to him, “It’s been a major challenge, you know Bauchi is surrounded by all the states having security challenges and many refugees have been pouring into it. Presently we have over two million refugees in Bauchi‎ but the good news is that we have been able to settle them. No refugee is in any camp, we have given them land to settle and have provided some shelters for them. We have tried our best to provide water and some basic facilities so that they can start life over again. It has not been easy, our resources are over stretched; the little we have has to be shared with the refugees.”