Parliament calls for release of abducted Nigerian girls

Parliament on Tuesday joined the global outcry for the release of more than 200 girls abducted in Chibok, Northern Nigeria, by Boko Haram insurgents, last April.

“I want to urge all of us to join in this global campaign to bring back our girls by signing unto a petition to world leaders on http://www.ghange.org-en GB/petitions/ over 200 girls-are-missing-in-Nigeria-please-help-find-them-bringbackourgirls.

“It is sad and could happen to our daughters and nieces. Mr. Speaker, I thank you for your indulgence," Mrs. Gifty Eugenia Kusi, New Patriotic Party Member of Parliament for Tarkwa Nsuaem, said in a statement, when the House resumed sitting on Tuesday after it went on recess last April.

Mrs. Kusi, who is also the Minority Spokesperson on Gender and Children, recalled the terrifying news of the kidnapping of more than 200 girls on the night of April 14 and April 15, by a group of Boko Haram militants who attacked the Government Girls School in Chibok, Nigeria.

They broke into the school, shooting the guards and killing one soldier. Reports have it that the students were taken away in trucks, possibly into the Konduga area of the Sambisa Forest, where Boko Haram were known to have fortified camps.

Houses in Chibok were also burnt down in the incident.

The school had been closed for four weeks prior to the attack due to the deteriorating security situation, but students from multiple schools in the district had been called in to take their final exams in physics.

It is alleged that the students were being forced into Islam and into marriage with members of Boko Haram, with a bride price of N2,000 each (12.50).

There is also an allegation that many of the students are being taken to neighbouring Chad and Cameroon.

The Nigerian Police are still unclear as to the exact number of kidnapped students, and they have asked parents to provide documents so that an official count could be made since school records were damaged during the attack.

When he first spoke on the incident, Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan assured his countrymen that Government is doing everything possible to find the missing girls.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has claimed responsibility for the kidnappings and claimed that Allah instructed him to sell the girls, vowing to carry out the said instructions because the girls should not have been in school.

He said that slavery is accepted in “his religion”, and the girls should be married since girls at “nine are suitable for marriage.”

The incident has attracted international attention, with consequent meetings of Nigeria President with US, Israeli, French and British foreign ministers, where the consensus was that no deals should be struck with the terrorists, and that a solution involving force is required.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, the UNICEF, the UN Security Council have all condemned the incident, with a warning from the Council that serious action is to be taken against Boko Haram militants for the abduction.

International pressure is mounting for the release of the girls, with Ghana’s First Lady Lordina Mahama and former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings joining in the campaign.

About a forthnight ago, ECOWAS leaders held an emergency meeting in Accra on the issue, with an assurance of help to President Jonathan.

Contributions by members on both sides unanimously condemned the act and expressed an urgent need to release the kidnapped girls.

The House also took the Excise Duty Bill through the consideration stage.