AN attempt by President Goodluck Jonathan to meet with the parents and some escapee girls earlier abducted from Government Secondary School (GSS), Chibok, Borno State, Tuesday failed as they shunned the meeting slated for the State House.
The meeting would have been a follow-up to the commitment the President made on Monday to the Pakistani Girl-Child Education Campaigner, Malala Yousafzani, during an audience at the State House, Abuja.
Briefing State House correspondents, the Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Dr. Doyin Okupe, said the meeting was scheduled for 4p.m yesterday following Malala’s request, which the President graciously agreed to.
“Unfortunately, the #BringBackOurGirls# leadership
prevailed on the parents of the girls not to come. What happened was that they actually avoided the meeting with Mr. President, because the foreign media and everybody were waiting for this meeting. They made it expressly clear to us that they were no longer coming,” Okupe said.
He confirmed that the President had authorized that an official letter be written to the parents formally
inviting them to meet him, and it is going to be sometime next week. He said all the rigmarole about the Chibok girls was a prelude to the 2015 general elections, regretting that the plight of the schoolgirls had become a political chess game to the local chapter of the #BringBackOurGirls# campaigners.
Courtesy:
Guardian Newspaper
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