President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday described terrorism as a sad event and assured Nigerians that the evil the Boko Haram sect represented would not last forever.
Jonathan made the remark while receiving a report from the presidential fact-finding committee on the abducted Chibok female students at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Jonathan inaugurated the committee on May 6 to provide government with accurate information about the abduction. The Chairman of the committee is Brig.-Gen. Ibrahim Sabo.
The president said he would not rest until terror was crushed in the country because “Nigeria can no longer live with the monster called Boko Haram”.
Jonathan described the abduction as painful, especially as the Chibok girls were still in the hands of criminal elements and reiterated his position that he and the security agencies would not sleep until the girls were rescued.
Jonathan said that terror attack anywhere was an attack on everyone.
He said that contrary to the belief that security agencies were not doing enough to end terrorism, “they are doing their best but they should do more to end insurgency in the country”.
Jonathan commended the chairman and members of the committee for their commitment and patriotism in the discharge of their responsibility even at personal risk.
Presenting the report, Sabo confirmed that a total of 219 of the girls were still missing. He disclosed that a total of 276 girls were abducted by members of the Boko Haram Sect at the Government Girls Secondary School (GGSS), Chibok, Borno on April 14.
According to him, 119 students escaped from the school’s premises before the insurgents took away their classmates, while 57 of those abducted escaped and have been reunited with their families.
Sabo said: “The committee here wishes to lay to rest any residual doubt as to whether or not any student was abducted at Chibok”.
“As most Nigerians already know, there were some persons who doubted whether in fact any student was abducted.
“On the other hand, for those who believed that there was abduction, there were lingering doubts as to how such a number of kidnap victims were conveyed, considering also that information was sparse as to how the insurgents evacuated the victims.
“A total of 276 students were thus abducted. As of today, 57 of the abducted students have been reunited with their families after escaping along zig-zag transport route taken by the insurgents or by bolting to safety when the insurgents were resting.
“Sadly, 219 students remain unaccounted for”, he said.
The chairman said that the committee received the full cooperation of the people and interacted with different stakeholders considered relevant to the fact-finding mission.
He, however, said that a particular senator from Borno, whose name he did not mention, shunned the committee after he had initially agreed to an appointment.
“The singular exception was a senator from Borno who, after agreeing to an appointment with the committee, turned around to avoid the meeting on the excuse that he had another appointment and would thereafter be unavailable for one month or so.
“Not that his non-appearance has materially or in any way affected the outcome of the committee’s findings, but the senator’s avoidance of an interface with the committee may well speak to a motive not too difficult to discern”, he said.
Sabo noted that though Nigerians and the rest of the world had been galvanised to drum up support for the freedom of the girls, little would be achieved through finger-pointing.
“Getting the girls out and safely too, is of more importance than the publicity generated by the blame game that has tended to becloud the issue”, he said. (NAN)
The boko haram cancer did not start today,yesterday or day before yesterday. It has long been planned, articulated and it is being executed by the babiyya allas from the loot of their 38 years of misrule of Nigeria. Of the 250 tribes of Nigeria, the babiyya allas alone have strangulated the nation for 38 years, during which time they pushed their own people into the army, police force, customs and other strategic areas to consolidate and actualize their dastardly pursuit. Ironically, they have been shedding crocodile tears about poverty, yet with SO MUCH MONEY to PURCHASE EXPENSIVE vehicles, high calibre weapons to drasrically decimate their preys for eventual take over of our land. In poverty, they give birth to unmanageable number of children whom they push into the street for OTHER TRIBES TO FEED. Having been brainwashed to hate and destroy, the babiyya allas are new INFILTRATING into enclaves of peace loving tribes where, if allowed to get used to, they will become thorns in their flesh. The ingrates produce nothing, enjoy the best but still destroy the best, both in human and material forms. They belittle their own atrocities but crane their necks to capitalize on irrelevant matters. Let every tribe in Nigeria rule for as long as the Hausa/Fulanis have, and full tenures and complete rounds are taken, for there to be justice and fair play. It is only when this is done that we can talk of having a real level playing ground to be able to shape the way forward. As long as real owners who are useful tribes of the country delude themselves to worship the babiyya allas, then it is not yet Uhuru. We other tribes allow the demonic ingrates to mangle the future of our country for too long. Up till now, some blame GEJ about everything since they cannot read between the lines. As the devil is, so will his children work. What good should anyone expect from the devil? The babiyya allas were created for the day of trouble. All of them are evil.