Abducted Girls: Women wept inconsolably at the House in Abuja….PHOTOS

Abducted Girls: Women wept inconsolably

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Abducted Girls: Women wept inconsolably

National protests which started in Lagos last week over inability of security agents to secure release of 234 female students abducted in Borno by Boko Haram terrorists two weeks ago, spread to Kano and Abuja, yesterday, just as Senate President, David Mark will lead 21 other senators to meet with President Goodluck Jonathan this evening to push for full scale military action to rescue the girls.

Abducted Girls: Women wept inconsolably

In Kano, various women and civil society groups staged a protest to Government House in Kano, demanding the immediate release of the girls. In Abuja, women from various civil society organisations (CSOs) defied a downpour to protest the delay in securing the release of the 234 abducted schoolgirls by insurgents.
The women were also at the National Assembly to seek intervention from the lawmakers in the efforts to rescue the girls. Women For Peace, protesting the abduction of Chibok school girls, yesterday, in Abuja.
The women, who wept inconsolably, before the Senate President, David Mark, Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal and Emeka Ihedioha, appealed to the Federal Government to deploy everything necessary in its military arsenal to rescue the innocent girls.

Abducted Girls: Women wept inconsolably

Former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesilli, one of the protest leaders and a former World Bank Vice-President, urged the government to respond pro-actively by making sure the girls were released from their captors safe in no time.
Ezekwesili, who regretted government’s inability to secure the release of the girls two weeks after their abduction, said Nigerian women have been sleepless since the abduction, insisting that government must not fail the citizens in releasing all the girls immediately. She described the continued delay in securing their release as unbearable, saying they would not continue to tolerate further delay just as she reminded government at all levels of their primary responsibility to citizens, which she noted included welfare and security.

Abducted Girls: Women wept inconsolably

Ezekwesili appealed to the Federal Government to intensify efforts to immediately rescue the girls.
“There must be concerted efforts to bring back our girls. We are frustrated that 234 girls are lost and there are no adequate information about their whereabouts. “Our leaders must show concern over the situation. We want to compel the right momentum for the search, and our activities are basically about bringing back our girls. “These young girls are our daughters, sisters, tomorrow’s women and mothers. Those directly affected grieve, and we as Nigerians and human beings join them in their anguish and distress,” Ezekwesili said.
Also speaking, Hajia Hadiza Usman, the Co-ordinator, Women for Justice and Peace, urged all concerned citizens, irrespective of religion and ethnic background to rise up against insurgency in the country. Usman said the abduction incident would discourage many mothers from sending their girl-children to school. “No country will accept the missing of 234 girls, especially as government has not given enough information about the search for them,” she said.

Abducted Girls: Women wept inconsolably

Senate President David Mark, while receiving the protesters, said the lawmakers shared in their pain and would work with them for the rescue of the girls. “Government is doing its best to address the situation. I therefore urge you all to collaborate with government to ensure we rescue the girls as soon as possible,” he said.
He added: “Our hearts are with you at this critical moment. The Senators and members of the House of Representatives wept over this abduction. We have reached an unbearable stage. We can no longer tolerate this.
“We are drenched, totally soaked in the rain. It is better to be beaten by the rain and get our children freed from their captors. If it means standing in the rain until the girls are freed we are prepared to do so.
“We have lost words. We can only apologize that it is taking this long to get these girls released. We are not going to rest until the last of the girls is freed. All the security formations, all of us must get involved in this battle. There is no mistaking the fact that we are in a state of war. With God on our side, we shall triumph over evil”.

Abducted Girls: Women wept inconsolably

Release names, pictures of abducted girls
Meanwhile, Christian and Muslim women of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, yesterday, urged the Principal and management of Government Girls’ Secondary School, GGSS, Chibok, Borno State to release the names and pictures of the girls kidnapped by members of the Boko Haram 17 days ago.
The women who held a prayer session in view of the current security challenges facing the nation, focusing on the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls, described the moment as very solemn. They stressed that their hearts bled and were broken as mothers.
Speaking, yesterday, the Convener of the prayer session and PDP National Woman Leader, Chief Kema Chikwe who decried the rate of kidnapping, terrorism, armed robbery and rape, however, appealed to God to expose those behind the heinous trend, just as they also prayed for victims of the Nyanya bomb blast.
Chikwe who explained that the programme was designed for PDP women to pray for a peaceful and a united Nigeria said, “Please God, send the Chibok schoolgirls to their parents for the sake of mothers, set the abducted Chibok schoolgirls free. We plead with the school authorities to release their names and their pictures. Let God touch the hearts of those who know and have perpetrated this heinous act.“ FG appears helpless, says NBA