Okwe Obi, Abuja
Founder of Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, yesterday charged President Muhammadu Buhari to deliver on the promises he made to Nigerians in 2015, insisting that it is constitutionally required for citizens to demand for their rights.
Bakare also accused the President of failing to appoint women into sensitive positions in his government.
He advised the Federal Government to protect her citizens, especially the girl child faced with genital mutilation, trafficking and slavery, early marriage and unequal access to education. Bakare spoke at the second annual lecture of the ‘Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) campaign’ themed: ‘Towards a Just and Good Society: Renewing our Commitment to the Girl Child,’ in Abuja.
He insisted that unless the government began to prioritise girl child education and freedom, the country might not achieve its full potential.
Bakare, who was Buhari’s running mate in 2011 on the platform of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), noted that “the fact that the Dapchi episode happened four years after the Chibok incident and one year to elections, just as it was in the Chibok case, is evidence of an alarming national malady.
“There is something wrong when a nation is twice bitten, yet never shy with respect to the safety and security of its girl child. There is something undeniably wrong when the girl child repeatedly becomes the bargaining instrument in negotiation deals between the government and terrorists. There is something absolutely wrong when the girl child becomes a pawn in a political chess game in which the major political parties seek to score political points.
“One of the key indicators of stability or the lack thereof in a nation is the state of its girl child because she is often the most vulnerable in a destabilised polity. The problematic issues encountered by the girl child in any society are symptoms of an underlying malady, which must be diagnosed. In essence, the brazen assault on the girl child in the Nigerian state is a clear indication that our nation is sick.”
In her remarks, Co-founder of the BBOG, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, stressed that they would not bow to pressure until victory is achieved.
Chairperson of the event, Sen. Naj’atu Muhammed, alleged that the military has not done enough to secure the freedom of the girls.