•I’m pleased with their release, says Buhari
•Insurgency has strengthened Nigeria, France ties -Envoy
By Charles Adegbite, Wole Balogun, Ado-Ekiti and Tunde Omolehin, Sokoto
President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed happiness with the release of 21, out of the over 200 girls abducted from Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, by Boko Haram on April 14, 2014.
This was even as he assured that his administration would continue to protect Nigerians wherever they are.
Buhari told newsmen at the Presidential Wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, shortly before he left the country on a three-day official visit to Germany that he had been briefed about the release of the girls and was quite pleased about the development.
“To Nigerians all over, it is our responsibility and we will continue to secure them wherever they are,” he said.
Regardless, Senior Advocate of Nigeria and rights activist, Femi Falana and Mr. Yinka Odumakin said former President Olusegun Obasanjo goofed when he said girls abducted from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State in April 2014 by Boko Haram insurgents may never be found.
Boko Haram released 21 of them, yesterday.
On February 5, 2016, Obasanjo, at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Osun State during a programme organised by the OAU Staff Club tagged “Seventh Roundtable with Chief Olusegun Obasanjo” said the girls may never be reunited with their parents.
Obasanjo said: “The search for the abducted Chibok girls may not be fruitful. Nobody can bring back the girls because they are nowhere to be found.”
Falana disagreed. “When the former president made that statement, I also reacted by saying all hopes were not lost. I said, on many occasions, that, from all indications, those girls were still alive and that the Federal Government should intensify efforts to look for them.
“We must commend the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) group that have, for the past three years, staged daily protests over the abducted girls.
“This is the greatest sacrifice that Nigerians have made in terms of reminding the government, on a daily basis, that these girls have to be brought back.
“The BBOG and other people were interested in the freedom of the girls and never lost interest at any time. We forget easily; that’s why when you hear about trillions of naira stolen, Nigerians are never shocked.”
Falana congratulated the Federal Government “for the unlimited success” and urged that negotiations should continue “until all the girls are released.”
Also criticising Obasanjo over his comment on the girls, Odumakin said: “Does anybody take Obasanjo seriously again? It is clear that he goofed that time. He is not somebody to be trusted on his comment on the girls’ condition…
“What about the rest of the abducted girls? I think it will be criminal to release the girls in exchange for the Boko Haram members who have been terrorising the nation. It will be a shame to release the criminals in exchange for those innocent girls who have committed no crime.
“Meanwhile, Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima has commended Buhari over the release of the schoolgirls abducted over two years ago.
Shettima, in his first reaction to the release of the girls in Banki, about 135 kilometres southeast of Maiduguri, yesterday, said the success of the negotiation between the federal government and Boko Haram, which led to the release, confirms Buhari’s sincerity on the girls’ rescue and the fight against insurgency.
“If any Nigerian had doubts about the sincerity and commitment of the president to the rescue of our precious daughters abducted by Boko Haram insurgents as well as his sincerity in rescuing all other victims and ending insurgency, such doubts should be eliminated by the success of the negotiation that led to the release of the schoolgirls,” Shettima said in a statement signed on his behalf by his spokesman, Isa Gusau.
Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose, however, described the celebration of the release of the schoolgirls as diversionary and said it cannot take away the fact that “Nigerians are suffering and yearning for relief.”
He called on Nigerians to engage in serious prayers for God to ameliorate their suffering.
“Nigerians have never had it so bad. People are very hungry. What they did was just to divert attention from what they did last week by clamping judges and justices into detention. While no one is saying corruption should be condoned, due process must be followed.”
Meanwhile, the European Union (EU) Ambassador in Abuja, Denys Gauer said emergence of Boko Haram has played an important role in strengthening of ties between Nigeria and France,
Speaking in Sokoto when he paid a courtesy visit to Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, Gauer said the relationship between the two countries has improved greatly in the last couple of years.
The governor replied: “We were good friends in the past, but, Boko Haram has brought our two countries closer.
“We understood the need to present a united front in order to enhance regional stability and improve global peace.”