President Goodluck Jonathan, on Tuesday tasted the resentment of parents of some of the more than 200 girls abducted from Chibok, Borno State, as they shunned a meeting with him at the last minute.
The girls had been kidnapped for over three months now and every effort by Nigerians to get the president to meet with the parents of the affected girls had proven abortive. Protests by the #BringBackOurGirls group and its affiliate around the country did not make much impact either.
During the last Presidential Media Chat, Jonathan had told the panellists that visiting Chibok or meeting with the parents of the girls was not a priority, but bringing out the girls alive.
However, it took a visit by an education activist, Malala Yousofazai, a Pakistani, for the president to agree to meet with the parents. After a meeting with Malala, Jonathan had promised to meet with the schoolgirls’ parents within 24 hours.
The meeting that was expected to hold on Tuesday afternoon was however called off as the parents, after preparing for the visit, changed their minds. Most people, including presidency officials, never anticipated the move, now termed as an embarrassment to the president.
“The parents of the girls, who were to meet with President Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, suddenly announced they no longer wanted to meet him. Their anger is based on the fact that the president, who showed serious disdain for them, suddenly decided to meet with them after a small girl, a foreigner met with him,” a rights activist told Huhuonline.com on Tuesday evening.
“Does he mean that he hates Nigerians who he leads so much? Imagine the level of protests and calls for him to meet with the parents, and he pretended he did not see the protests. What does he want to tell the parents now? Remember it’s been three months since they were kidnapped and about nine of the affected parents are already dead.”
Apparently pained by the action of the parents, Jonathan, in a statement signed by Dr. Doyin Okupe, his senior special assistant on public affairs, accused the protesting #BringBackOurGirls group of convincing the parents against meeting with the president.
The statement also accused the group, championed by former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili and others, of playing politics with the issue and taking the parents out of Abuja so that the meeting would not hold.
“It now appears that our fight to get the girls of Chibok back is not only a fight against a terrorist insurgency, but also against a political opposition,” Jonathan said.
“It is with great regret that I announce the cancellation of the meeting with 12 parents of the abducted Chibok children, as well as five of the brave girls who escaped from the terrorist organisation Boko Haram. I scheduled this meeting, which was to be open to the media for coverage by Nigerian and international press; to listen to their stories and to privately brief the parents and the girls on our efforts to rescue the abducted girls.”
He reiterated that his priority for summoning the meeting was not politics; rather his priority remains the return of the girls.
“Unfortunately, political forces within the Nigerian chapter of #BringBackOurGirls have decided to take this opportunity to play politics with the situation and the grief of the parents and the girls. They should be ashamed of their actions. Those who would manipulate the victims of terrorism for their own benefit, are engaging in a similar kind of evil: psychological terrorism,” he said.
“I want it to be clear that this government stands with complete solidarity with the girls and their parents. We are doing everything in our power to bring back our girls. Despite the shameful and disgusting games being played by the Nigerian chapter of Bring Back Our Girls, as a father of girls, I stand ready to meet with the parents of our abducted children and the truly brave girls that have escaped this nightmare through the grace of God.”
