The Convener, ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ Campaign, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, has called on Nigerians to resist people who are preventing the move of the Bring Back Our Girls Campaign.
She said that the 219 Chibok girls having remained abducted for 241 days is a deep scrutiny of what Nigeria represents as a people.
Speaking as a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, Mrs Ezekwesili recalled that in February 2014, when 59 school boys were also killed at the Federal Government College, Buni Yadi, Yobe State, “nobody has said anything about this incident, who did it or if anything was given to the parents.
“Every child who turns up in the school system is essentially forced to make a decision between staying alive and acquiring knowledge,” she added.
With the interview marking the 241st day that the girls had been abducted by the Boko Haram sect, Ezekwesili said “Nigerians should be worried that these girls are still missing”.
Connecting the rampancy of female bombers to the Chibok girls, Mrs. Ezekwesili said that this should scare Nigerians because what it portrays is the potentiality of any girl child in the hands of the sect to became a tool for attacks on the nation.
Emphasizing the psychological effects the experience was having on the girls, the former Minister of Education also shared her conversation with one of the girls who escaped from the sect, who revealed to her and child activist, Malala Yousafzai, that she feels guilty anytime she goes to visit the parents of her best friend, with whom she was abducted.
“Every time I go to visit her parents they ask me why didn’t you escape with your best friend.”
Mrs Ezekwesili went further to debunk the reports that people have kept quiet about the Chibok Girls, “It is in our best interest not to close the book until the book closes.”
She added that as a nation, Nigerians should resist people who try to prevent the ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ campaign from moving on.