The Chibok Community, also known as the Kibaku Area Development Association, on Wednesday, expressed concern about the treatment of the more than 100 schoolgirls who were kidnapped by Boko Haram terrorists in 2014.
They claimed that 110 of their daughters are still missing after the mass kidnapping of 276 of their daughters in April 2014, during which 57 managed to escape (on their own).
According to them, the Federal Government had abandoned the Chibok community, including their children who were kidnapped at the Chibok Girls’ Secondary School in Borno State, as evidenced by the release of the remaining Abuja-Kaduna train attack victims.
The issue of the kidnapped Chibok girls and the never-ending attacks on their communities, according to KADA National President Dauda Iliya, still exists.
He was responding to the declaration made by Prof. Usman Yusuf, Secretary of the Chief of Defence Staff Action Committee, that all 23 of the passengers who had been kidnapped off a train going for Kaduna on March 28, 2022, had been freed.
Iliya said, “The issue of the abandonment of the Chibok School Girls has come forth again following the release of the remaining abducted train victims largely due to efforts of the Federal Government and especially the Military under the Chief of Defence Staff, Lucky Irabor.
“The statement in particular has caused the Chibok people pain and caused us despair and a deep feeling of neglect and abandonment by the Federal Government.”
He claimed that the Chibok community had been subjected to unprecedented terrorist attacks while not being able to free their girls.
“The latest attack in Chibok happened only on October 3, 2022, in Njlang, a village just 5km away from Chibok”, Iliya said.
He urged President Muhammadu Buhari, to save the ethnic group of the Chibok community from being completely wiped out by the Boko Haram terrorists.
“The government and the security agencies are handling the rehabilitation of the escaped/rescued girls without involvement of the parents and publicly parading them to make statements that appear coercive without reuniting with their parents.
“Right from late 2012 up to this time, the statistics of the state of damage and destruction of lives and property inflicted on the community presents a worrisome and pathetic picture: Number of attacks: over 72; persons killed: over 407; persons abducted: over 332; houses/businesses burnt: unquantifiable; churches burnt: over 20; vehicles stolen: many; grains’ barns burnt or destroyed: unquantifiable”, Iliya said.
The number of attacks and the extent of the destruction, according to the association, have increased and are now alarming as of late 2018.
KADA said, “Just this year 2022 alone, Kautikari (second largest town in the Chibok area) was attacked on January 14 with five girls abducted, three persons killed, many houses and churches burnt, etc.
“In sustaining their carnage, Piyemi, another big town in Chibok area, was attacked on January 20 with 19 persons (mostly girls) abducted and one person, the Vigilante leader, beheaded. The town was practically razed down and virtually all the recently harvested agricultural produce completely burnt down and/or looted. Chibok is predominantly an agrarian community and the whole year’s harvests have been lost to these sustained and targeted attacks posing serious food security concerns in the community.
“We request the Federal Government to order deployment of more military personnel as well as better arms to Chibok to halt the continuous attacks on the community.
“We also appeal to our action Governor to do more in organising and helping our people in securing our state in general and Chibok in particular.”
