Women protesters fault first lady on Chibok girls

A group of women under the name; “Women for Peace and Justice” yesterday chided First Lady Patience Jonathan for attempting to exonerate the federal government from any blame over the abduction of 234 schoolgirls from Chibok, Borno State.

In a statement by its Coordinator, Hadiza Bala Usman yesterday, the group which is organizing the “Bring Back Our Girls” protest in Abuja, vowed to continue with the protests until the girls are rescued.

“We note with concern that the presidency through the office of the first lady is making inferences to the fact that the girls might have been abducted for political motives”, the group said.

They maintained that the rescue and return of the girls is what is material at this point, and not a blame game and dodging of responsibility because Nigeria through its various security agencies is expected to ensure the security of every Nigerian.

“We take exception to anyone trying to play politics with the lives of over 200 young girl”, they said.

Usman argued further that the identities of the abductees is not the primary issue but the fact that 20 days after the abduction, the government is yet to rescue any one of them or provide any concrete information on the status of the rescue operation.

“We shall continue our protest as we have been doing every day 3pm - 7pm at the Unity Fountain Abuja until the girls are rescued and returned home safely to their families”, they said.

“We shall on Tuesday March 6 at 2pm march to the office of the Minister of Defence and the office of the Chief of Defence Staff to submit a letter to them demanding that we see a decisive action in the rescue operation”, they added.