The official statement was released yesterday Wednesday May 7th 2014 and signed by the Secretary-General of Northern CAN Prof. Daniel Babayi and the Public Relations Officer Sunday Oibe.
In addition to raising questions, the group have also listed calls to action specifically aimed at the Governor of the state.
Read below
:
The position of Northern CAN on the abduction of female students in Chibok
Since the abduction of some female students in Chibok Local Government Area of Borno State, Northern CAN has decided to be silent for some reasons. We have decided that we will make statements when we have all the facts of the matter. It may interest Nigerians to know that we have fundamental questions which demand one million answers:
Since the abduction of some female students in Chibok Local Government Area of Borno State, Northern CAN has decided to be silent for some reasons. We have decided that we will make statements when we have all the facts of the matter. It may interest Nigerians to know that we have fundamental questions which demand one million answers:
1. Since the abduction of these girls over two weeks ago, has Borno
State Governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, constituted any panel of
investigation with a view to making its report public?
2. How did the 353 female students disappear from the school into the thin air?
3. Why did the Borno State Commissioner
for Education, Principal, Vice Principal and Chief Security Officer, all
Muslims, ignore the valid advice of WAEC on the security implication of
writing exams in the school and the need to have a centre where the
children’s life will be secured?
4. How did Boko Haram carry over 200
students and their food stolen by these criminals from the school? Was
it carried with trailer?
5. Why is it that since this issue came
up, no single photograph of the abducted children was made public by the
school authorities? After all, they were preparing for exams and may
have submitted their photographs.
6. Where were the daughters of the Principal, Vice Principal and Chief Security Officer when the abduction took place?
We hope that this is not a political
gimmick to carry out a political conspiracy against these daughters of
Nigerians, future mothers of Nigeria and citizens who are wants to be
leaders of tomorrow.
So these are the questions; we have done our investigations, we are begging the international community, we are begging the Federal Government of Nigeria and the press to ask these legitimate questions from the Governor, Commissioner for Education, Principal and CSO of the school because Chibok is a predominantly Christian area. What we are after is the safety and future of these children, whether they are Christians or Muslims or our enemies doesn’t matter. They are Nigerians, first and foremost.
So these are the questions; we have done our investigations, we are begging the international community, we are begging the Federal Government of Nigeria and the press to ask these legitimate questions from the Governor, Commissioner for Education, Principal and CSO of the school because Chibok is a predominantly Christian area. What we are after is the safety and future of these children, whether they are Christians or Muslims or our enemies doesn’t matter. They are Nigerians, first and foremost.
Our (Northern CAN) positions are as follows:
1. The Governor and government of Borno State should and must as a matter of urgency stop playing politics with the lives of the children of other people. They should produce those children without delay because they know their whereabouts.
1. The Governor and government of Borno State should and must as a matter of urgency stop playing politics with the lives of the children of other people. They should produce those children without delay because they know their whereabouts.
2. We demand an explanation from the
Governor, Commissioner for Education, Principal and CSO of the school on
what they did and what they did not do that led to the ferrying away of
these innocent children who went to sit for an examination for the
betterment of their tomorrow.
3. How come that the parents of these
children have not been able to come out and say anything? Are they
saying that these children are orphans and do not have parents? We
demand an explanation because from our investigation, parents of these
children are facing intimidation and threats from the government of
Borno State. That is why they could not come out to speak; but they are
nursing their pains in silence.
4. We also demand that the Federal
Government and the international community should help us beg the
Governor of Borno State to do everything within his powers to produce
these children.
5. We also reject a situation where they
will turn our daughters to be sex slaves of these criminals called Boko
Haram members. We have it on good authority that some of these children
are being raped 15 times a day. Some of these children are being
compelled to be wives of these criminals. If you want to marry
somebody’s daughter, you must seek the consent of her parents and not to
ferry under-aged children and perpetrate a lot of havoc on them.
The abduction of these girls seems a
resurrection of what the Christian communities in Northern Nigeria have
been suffering for centuries in the hands of the Emirs and Imams
regarding forceful conversion and abduction of Christian girls. Borno
State government should be reminded that the fundamental human rights of
these people should be respected and protected.
The Governor should provide immediate
explanation because we know that some people want to sacrifice these
children on the altar of politics. There is a limit to which Christians
would tolerate all these abnormalities. We suspect a conspiracy among
all of these characters including the Governor, Commissioner for
Education, Principal and CSO since non of the daughters of the teachers
and Principal were abducted; there is more to it and this is the
position of Northern CAN.
****
If the aim of this Boko Haram attack was political instability and religious division; sadly, it seems as though they are succeeding.
If the aim of this Boko Haram attack was political instability and religious division; sadly, it seems as though they are succeeding.
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