TheCable

Former minister of education, Mrs Obiageli Ezekwesili, has called on the federal government to immediately rescue the more-than-200 Chibok girls who have been in the hands of Boko Haram since April 14.

Speaking amid suppressed emotion at the #Bringbackourgirls solidarity march in Abuja on Thursday, Ezekwesili noted that it had been 150 days since the abduction of the Chibok girls, yet there was no sign of their return or results from rescue operations.

She slammed the government for appropriating the group’s hashtag for political purposes, saying the action was a mockery of the abducted girls and their parents.

“Our voice will not be silenced. We can save the Chibok girls. There is no reason we shouldn’t. That’s why we keep coming, and that’s why we keep standing,” the former minister of education said.

Reacting to #BringbackJonathan2015, she said: “It was a shameful hashtag. How can you mock the pain of 219 that look up to the government to save them but haven’t been saved? How could anybody make a mockery of this kind of tragedy?

“The press release that was issued was a deceitful press release, because the presidency as represented by the spokesperson of the president on public affairs, was an arrowhead of the hash-tag. Anyone who is on social media knows that Doyin Okupe was the arrowhead of that hash-tag they now consider repugnant.

“How could they do that? If thee girls had been rescued, it would be a different a matter. These girls are still with terrorists and you mocked the agony of their parents by doing such an offensive thing.

“Citizens are appalled by the way the Chibok matter has been handled. This matter has been handled in a very appalling manner. I think it is necessary that the government redeems what is left of the expectation that citizens have by rescuing those girls immediately.

“One hundred and fifty days is too long for young girls to be in the midst of killers. They want us to move on. We can’t move on; they are our daughters. Enough is enough; it is time to rescue those girls and send a signal to the world that we are not a godforsaken country. Nigeria is a great country and we can rescue our girls.”