By Mmedaramfon Umoren
Reporter
Women Arise for Change Initiative President, Joe Okei-Odumakin, has dismissed as irrelevant the new committee Abuja set up to investigate the missing Chibok girls, 600 days after their abduction by Boko Haram.
“The idea of an investigative committee on the Chibok girls isn’t so relevant and I see it as another of such government bureaucracy that has prolonged the need for the immediate rescue of our Chibok girls.
“It is grossly irrelevant because we have seen such committees in the past, which yielded no results. What is required is a more practical approach by government and everyone involved in the rescue of the Chibok girls,” she said.
The Chibok girls were kidnapped by Boko Haram on the night of April 14, 2014 and they remain missing.
Shortly after, former President Goodluck Jonathan set up a 26-member committee, led by Ibrahim Sabo, to investigate the matter.
Now, President Muhammadu Buhari has also directed National Security Adviser (NSA), Babagana Munguno, to set up another committee to investigate it.
The investigation will seek to, among other things, unravel the remote and immediate circumstances leading to the kidnap of the girls by Boko Haram terrorists as well as the other events, actions and inactions that followed the incident.
“Securing the Chibok girls is my responsibility. The service chiefs and heads of our security agencies will tell you that in spite of the dire financial strain we found the country in, I continue to do my best to support their efforts in that regard,” Buhari stressed.
However, Odumakin urged the government to tackle other issues that concern Nigerians while looking for a means to solve the Chibok mystery.
She said: “The government exists for the purpose of issues of security and welfare of the people so, while efforts are being made to rescue the girls, other issues must be given the needed attention.
“The men of our armed forces in the past two years that these girls have been abducted, have done tremendously well. But they just need an improvement particularly in the area of intelligence, in order to ensure that the girls are rescued alive.”
Two months ago, Amina Ali, one of the 219 Chibok girls, was reportedly rescued by the military from Boko Haram’s stronghold in Sambisa forest.
But her family alleged that they had not been able to see her after her meeting with Buhari.
Odumakin reiterated that “a lot of cloud of uncertainty still pervades the whereabouts of the rescued girl.
“The government, for reasons best known to them, have tried to protect information about her as we speak, after her only public appearance. We shall continue to monitor as events unfold.”
