The Chibok Community on the platform of Kibaku Area Development Association (KADA), has decried what it called neglect of the over 100 schoolgirls abducted from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State on April 14, 2014.
The community said that the recent release of the remaining 23 Abuja-Kaduna Train attack victims last Wednesday showed clearly that the government has abandoned Chibok Community including their children that were abducted from school.
The group’s lamentation followed a statement from the Secretary, Chief of Defense Staff Action Committee (CDSAC), Prof. Usman Yusuf, announcing that all the 23 remaining passengers abducted from a Kaduna-bound train on March 28, 2022, had been released by their abductors.
The statement which was Tweeted by President Muhammadu Buhari’s media aide, Bashir Ahmad, made all the sons and daughters of Chibok community around the world to raise concern that they have been abandoned.
Speaking to journalists, the national president of KADA, Dauda Ndirpaya Iliya, said the matter of the abducted Chibok girls and the unending attacks on their communities still persist.
“The issue of the abandonment of the Chibok School Girls has come forth again following the release of the remaining abducted train victims largely due efforts of the Federal Government and especially the Military under the Chief of Defense Staff, Lucky Irabor.
“The statement in particular has caused the Chibok people pain and caused us despair and a deep feeling of neglect and abandonment by the federal government,” Iliya said, adding that despite not releasing their girls, the Chibok communities have been facing an unprecedented attacks from terrorists.
“The latest attack in Chibok happened only on Oct 3, 2022 in Njlang, a village just 5 Km away from Chibok,” Iliya said.
Earlier, the Kibaku (Chibok) Area Development Association called on President Muhammadu Buhari to rescue Chibok Community, an ethnic nationality, from total annihilation by the Boko Haram Terrorists.
They said since the mass abduction of the 276 of their daughters in April, 2014, wherein 57 escaped (on their own), they still have 110 of them still unaccounted for.
“The parents and the Community have continued to be subjected to persistent and sustained attacks, killings, abductions, maiming, arson and other myriads of criminality without adequate government protection. Chibok has been for all intents and purposes abandoned to its own devices by all layers of government in Nigeria.
“The government and the security agencies are handling the rehabilitation of the escaped/rescued girls without involvement of the parents and publicly parading them to make statements that appear coercive without reuniting with their parents,” the group said.
According to the group, “Right from late 2012 up to this time, the statistics of the state of damage and destruction of lives and property inflicted on the Community presents a worrisome and pathetic picture: Number of attacks: over 72; Persons killed: over 407; Persons abducted: over 332; Houses/businesses burnt: unquantifiable; Churches burnt: over 20; Vehicles stolen: many;
Grains barns burnt or destroyed: unquantifiable.”
The association said from late 2018 to date, the frequency of attacks and level of destruction have escalated and were simply alarming.
“Just this year 2022 alone, Kautikari (second largest town in Chibok area) was attacked on January 14 with 5 girls abducted, 3 persons killed, many houses and churches burnt, etc.
“In sustaining their carnage, Piyemi, another big town in Chibok area, was attacked on January 20 with
19 persons (mostly girls) were abducted and one person, the Vigilante leader, beheaded. The town was practically razed down and virtually all the recently harvested agricultural produce completely burnt down and/or looted. Chibok is predominantly an agrarian community and the whole year’s harvests have been lost to these sustained and targeted attacks posing serious food security concerns in the community.
“We call on all well-meaning Nigerians and Mr. President in particular, to rise up to the occasion and urgently save our people from total annihilation and starvation.
“Government should seek support to synergize with our security forces in confronting this menace so as to end the sustained carnage on our people. By doing so, we expect our remaining 110 daughters abducted in 2014 and numerous others subsequently abducted at different times to be brought back to us.
“We appeal to the Federal Government to immediately set up IDP Camps in Chibok town and provide Chibok with a skills acquisition centre so as to avoid imminent hunger/starvation in Chibok.
“We request the Federal government to order deployment of more military personnel as well as better arms to Chibok to halt the continuous attacks on the community.
“We also appeal to our action Governor to do more in organizing and helping our people in securing our state in general and Chibok in particular,” the group added.
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