RELEASE CHIBOK GIRLS NOW, APC TELLS JONATHAN

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to release the school girls who were abducted in Chibok over six months ago, if indeed he knows where they are, rather than seeking to make political gains out of their release.



‘’Mr. President, tongues are wagging that you know where the girls are and that you want them to be released only when it will give you the maximum political advantage.“We don’t know if this is true or not, but if it is, please release the girls now,’’ the party said in a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.The party said it was cruel and unconscionable for anyone to use the girls as pawns on a political chess board.“They have now been in captivity for over six full months. Please end the agony of the girls’ parents and indeed of all Nigerians,’’ it said.APC said the body language of President Jonathan, since the unfortunate abduction of the girls, showed that he knew more than he was willing to admit on the unfortunate issue, and that he had exhibited an unprecedented nonchalance over the plight of the girls.‘’First, the President waited for all of 19 days before even admitting that the girls have been abducted, losing a critical window of opportunity to rescue them from their abductors. When eventually he was forced by global pressure to admit that the abduction is real, Mr. President and his wife chose to subject the girls’ parents and others to untold verbal assault and mental torture.‘’A little over a month after the girls were abducted, the Chief of Defence Staff said the security leadership in the country had located where Boko Haram is holding the abducted girls.“Since then, Nigerians have been waiting for the girls to be rescued, to no avail. No one has told Nigerians the problems that are militating against the release of the girls, be it logistic or otherwise.‘’Recently, a flurry of nocturnal activities have been going on ostensibly to negotiate the release of the girls, even after the same government that is apparently behind the activities had bluntly ignored wise counsel and said it would never negotiate their release.The party said from the foregoing, it was clear that President Jonathan has consciously manipulated the abduction of the girls for maximum political advantage.The party then appealed to the President to allow the immediate release of the girls, rather than wait for when it would give maximum boost to his administration