TheCable

A crowd of protesters numbering approximately 1,000 on Wednesday besieged the premises of the National Assembly to pressure the government into immediately freeing the 230 female pupils of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, abducted by Boko Haram two weeks ago.

A total of 273 girls were abducted, but only 43 have regained freedom.

The protesters began trickling into Unity Fountain, Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, before the scheduled take-off time of 3pm; and by 3pm, they were about 300. By 3:30pm, protesters at the rally, tagged Rescue our Chibok Girls, were nearing a thousand.

Obiageli Ezekwesili, former minister of education, welcomed the crowd to the rally, saying the country’s leadership must “show a presence of mind concerning the girls.”

Policemen, led by Federal Capital territory (FCT) Commissioner of Police, Mbu Joseph Mbu, were at the scene.

Few minutes into Ezekwesili’s welcome remarks, the sky went cloudy, but she urged the crowd to go ahead with the protest, notwithstanding the impediments.

“We must not give up,” she said. “They must bring back our girls!”

The crowd then marched towards the National Assembly, while the rains poured down, chanting: “All we are saying, bring back our girls!”

“If one of us is unsafe, none of us is safe,” a placard read.

Another read: “Please, find our daughters”; while one more read: “Where are my sisters?”

At the National Assembly, President of the Senate, David Mark; Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal; and Deputy Speaker of the House, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha all came into the rain to listen to Ezekwesili, who spoke on behalf of the crowd again.

Delivering a letter of protest to Speaker Mark, Ezekwesili urged the federal government to immediately rev up efforts towards securing the release of the girls. She also complained that security agencies have been feeding the public with inadequate and untrue information.

Before the crowd dispersed, she issued a 24-hour ultimatum within which government must rescue the girls, or contend with another rally.

Mark spoke on behalf of the legislators, assuring the protesters of the commitment of the federal government to rescuing the girls.