Senator Shehu Sani, representing Kaduna North, has said whenever the federal government is ready to get the abducted Chibok girls released, he has a “perfect” strategy to get the girls released. He therefore advised the federal government to raise an effective team to work out ways of securing the girls’ release.
The Senate recently invited the National Security Adviser (NSA) General Babagana Monguno and all the Security Chiefs to brief the Senate in a closed session on their efforts so far at rescuing the abducted girls of Chibok Secondary School Borno State.
The upper chamber of the National Assembly also mandated the security agencies to do everything possible to ensure the release of the girls. They urged the federal government to take over and rebuild the Chibok Secondary School to alleviate the suffering of the students in the community and its environ.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has also charged the Presidency to give clear deadlines to security agencies to rescue the missing Chibok girls. He stressed the need for a sense of urgency in the search and rescue effort.
The Senate which empathized with the parents and the entire people of Chibok also commended the Bring Back Our Girls group for its doggedness in the campaign for the release of the girls. The Senate also called on Nigerians to intensify prayers for the release of the girls.
The developments followed a motion sponsored by Senator Dino Melaye representing Kogi West in the Senate. He expressed sadness over the long absence of the Chibok girls abducted by the Boko Haram terrorists group.
Melaye noted that outside the propangada videos created by the Islamist militant group, none of the girls has been seen.
He told the Senate that the association of the parents of the abducted girls said 18 mothers and fathers have died since the girls were abducted two years ago. Melaye added that four members of the Bring Back Our Girls group have also died without realizing their dreams. “The abduction of over 200 girls by the Boko Haram has wrongly affected us as a people and this could also be seen in the international condemnation of government’s slow reaction to this unprecedented outrage committed against Nigerian womanhood” Melaye said.
The Senator added that the government could not claim it has succeeded until the girls are released. “We cannot succeed as a government until those girls are released,” he said.
Seconding the motion, Shehu Sani, representing Kaduna North, said whenever the federal government was ready to get the girls released, it had to perfect an adequate strategy. He advised the federal government to raise an effective team to work out ways of securing the girls’ release. “Whenever the federal government is ready to get the girls out, I have a perfect strategy to give.” Sani said.
In his contribution, the Senate minority leader, Godswill Akpabio, agreed with Melaye that the government could not claim to have succeeded if the girls are not returned to their parents. He expressed worry that Senator Sani was waiting to be invited before bringing his strategy to the table. Akpabio advised him to put his strategy forward to the Senate through the Senate President’s office.
The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over the session thanked the lawmakers for their concern for the abducted girls. He also appreciated the international community for its concern and expressed hope that the girls would be reunite with their parents very soon.
Dogara, during debate on a motion on the missing Chibok girls two years after, declared: “I sincerely believe, from contributions on the floor, that time has come … that the executive sets targets for the security forces to ensure that we do not lose the sense of urgency that this great tragic incident, which has been described here as a national shame, has brought upon this country.
The Speaker also urged the parents of the abducted girls not to lose hope on the return of their children, saying the wait may be long but it will be rewarded with the joy of seeing them again. Dogara commended members of the Bring Back Our Girls group who have sustained “an unrelenting” advocacy for the return of the missing girls since they were abducted. He also praised the efforts of the security forces of Nigeria and other supporting nations.
