The Bring Back Our Girls group have been denied access by the Federal Government to see the 106 rescued Chibok girls four weeks after 82 of them were released by the Boko Haram insurgents
Relatives of the girls, who are also members of the BBOG group, were also denied access to the girls now in the care of the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs in Abuja, it was learnt.
A member of the group’s strategic team, Aisha Yesufu, told Saturday PUNCH on Friday in Abuja that their inability to meet with the girls had slowed its identities’ verification process.
She said, “Right from the first girl that was found, none of us in BBOG was allowed to see them. We have 106 girls but we have never met them.
“Some of our members who are relatives have been denied access based on the fact that they are members of the BBOG movement.
“This is okay by us as long as the parents are able to see their daughters. The girls should be given the best type of education available.”
Yesufu said that the coalition was not discouraged by government’s attitude, noting that the group was still gathering data through unofficial sources to complete an independent verification of the girls’ identities.
She said, “There is no collaboration between BringBackOurGirls and the Federal Government, if there was collaboration, we would have concluded the verification process.
“The Federal Government has refused to establish that collaboration with us and so we are doing it on our own. Members of Kibaku Community that are members of the BBOG are liaising with the Chibok parents to get data for our verification process.”
Corroborating Yesufu’s position, BBOG spokesperson, Sesugh Akume, stated that the movement had not been allowed to meet with the rescued Chibok girls.
He said, “We don’t know why, but they have not allowed us to meet the girls and this is why we have been unable to complete the identities verification process.”
Director of Press, Ministry of Women Affairs, Roy Hassan, did not respond to calls and a text message sent to his telephone number by our correspondent.
