The #BringBackOurGirls Abuja, Ibadan and Lagos families, yesterday embarked on advocacy visits to three elder statesmen in Nigeria, namely former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka and Ambassador Christopher Kolade.
In three separate meetings held in Abeokuta and Lagos, the campaign received overwhelming support and endorsement for the role that it has played in placing the April 14/15 2014 abduction of ChibokGirls at the front of national discourse and keeping it there.
The elder statesmen all expressed worry at the gravity of the situation in the country especially the insurgency in the North East, the abduction of children, damage to education, and the increasing numbers of Internally Displaced Nigerians.
They provided wise counsel and welcome encouragement to the #BringBackOurGirls family on some important responsibilities central to and associated with the Chibok Girls in particular, and the insurgency in general. Some of such counsel was:
a. The campaign should and must be sustained, and that the #BringBackOurGirls family should continue to advocate for the rescue of all abducted persons in Nigeria;
b. The #BringBackOurGirls campaign should continue to mobilise and educate Nigerians, and to provide direct testimony on the impact of the insurgency in the North East;
c. The BringBackOurGirls should join with other concerned Nigerians to raise awareness and provide humanitarian support for the displaced communities of North Eastern Nigeria.
Consequently, the elder statesmen agreed to be a consistent voice for the Chibok girls and for the communities of NorthEastern Nigeria which have been ravaged by the insurgency.
They also agreed to be part of an initiative to mobilise Nigeria’s other elder statesmen in a non-partisan forum to proffer practical solutions and to be a collective voice of reason on issues of national importance, most especially on the insurgency and the rescue of the 219 Chibok girls.
They also praised the role of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign as a “source of hope” for standing up on behalf of the vulnerable in our community and for exemplifying new norms of selflessness, sacrifice and spirit of nationalism. They emphasised that the #BringBackOurGirls campaign had provided a voice for millions of Nigerians – parents, youths, children and others – who had been unable to speak out or voice their concerns.
For its part, #BringBackOurGirls campaign team committed itself to making similar advocacy visits to other elder statesmen and women in other regions of Nigeria ( South East, South South, North West, East and Central, in the coming days), and to sustain its campaign until a desired end is achieved.
