Ahead of the move by women to march on the Federal Capital, Abuja, today to  press for the release of over 200 schoolgirls abducted at the Government Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State, a group, United Alliance, has said Northern elders should be held accountable for the missing girls.

Reacting to the planned protest against the continued detention of the girls by the insurgents, the group, through a statement issued in Abuja and signed by its Northern Coordinator, Mallam Bashir Ado, said the protesters should not direct their grievance at President Goodluck Jonathan, whom the group said has got nothing to do with the disappearance of the girls.

Rather, the group said, the protesters should direct their grievance at the Northern elders and politicians who they alleged were the mastermind of the girls disappearance.

“The disappearance of the girls is part of the Northern elders agenda to embarrass and distract the Goodluck Jonathan government.

“They deliberately took the girls away to create an impression of  insecurity and paint the picture that nobody is safe in the country, whereas they are  the architect of these self-inflicting wounds aimed at  distracting  a working government,” Ado said.

According to the group, the Chibok  school authorities among others in the region, deliberately  ignored the call made earlier by the Federal Government for students of schools in the area to be evacuated .

“There was an instruction initially to school authorities in the area to  evacuate students from  schools because of insecurity  and the parents are aware of this. Why then would the authority refuse to yield to such sensitive instruction if there was no pre-conceived agenda to lash on the perceived state of insecurity to organise the kidnap of their own children and put the blame at the doorstep of the Federal Government?”

The group observed  that “the co-ordinated media interviews, which mothers of the alleged missing girls have been granting showed that  a script is being acted. Those who claimed to have been born to rule should direct their energy at how to ensure that the unity of the country is maintained in diversity instead of constantly embarrassing themselves in the name of wresting for power.”

The group noted that it would take the North several years to recover from the self-inflicting destruction being experienced in the region at the moment, adding that “the organisers of the girls’ kidnap only wanted to use the act to negotiate with the government.”



Source: Sun