Bring Back Our Girls (BBOGs) headed by Oby Ezekwesili suspects the government invitation to tour Sambisa Forest
The support group known as Bring
Back Our Girls, (BBOGs), headed by Mrs Oby Ezekwesili has communicated its
doubt at the invitation reached out to the gathering by the Federal Government
on an excursion to Sambisa Forest looking for the supposed missing Chibok
school girls.
The Federal Government had
composed a letter of welcome asking for agents of the gathering to be a part of
a military operational flight to Sambisa Forest looking for the missing Chibok school
girls.
The welcome letter was dated
January 11, and marked by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai
Mohammed, and tended to the convener of the gathering, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili.
The letter, which was made
accessible to media houses, yesterday requested that the BBOG assign three
individuals from the gathering to be a part of a guided outing planned for
January 16, in acknowledgment of what it depicted as the steadfast duty of the
gathering to the arrival of the hijacked Chibok young ladies.
As indicated by the letter,“The
trip being planned by the military will see the Ministers of Defence and
Information, the Chief of Air Staff and Chief of Army Staff joining the invited
BBOG members and a select group of journalists.
“They will first go to the
Nigerian Air Force Command Centre in Yola to witness firsthand the efforts
being made to search for the girls by NAF and then join the day and night
sorties with the NAF to the Sambisa Forest.
“Please note that due to limited
seats on the search plane, only two of the invited BBOG members will join the
NAF sorties. After the sorties, the team will return to Yola for bidding by the
NAF on their daily search for the girls as well as all those who have been
abducted by Boko Haram.
“Departure is scheduled for
8:30a.m. at the Air Force wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport on
Monday the January 17, 2017, ” the letter reads in part.
The government expressed that the
trek would benefit the BBOG the chance to witness and better comprehend the
endeavours being made to secure the freedom of the young ladies and different
casualties of Boko Haram terrorists.
Be that as it may, the gathering
in its answer dated January 13, raised doubt on the desperation of the outing
at short notice and the way that the Chief of Army staff, Lieutenant General
Tukur Buratai, had just few days prior blamed the gathering for taking part in
"social advocacy terrorism".
The gathering's letter marked by
Oby Ezewkesili, stated that the government owned News Agency of Nigeria broadly
detailed through the mass media that amid a visit to the armed force headquarters
by a specific group which was attended to by the Chief of Army Staff, our organisation
was assaulted for taking part in social advocacy terrorism. It is astounding
that the said visit happened under forty eight hours before our group got your
letter requesting that we go in the company of the same Chief of Army Staff to
Sambisa Forest.
The gathering said “we demand
therefore that ahead of the pre-tour meeting, the Chief of Army Staff retracts
and apologizes for endorsing such slanderous attacks against our movement.”