Let’s bring the girls out, says Obasanjo
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VOL. 9, NO. 2862 FRIDAY, MAY 30, 2014
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Tears flow as panel visits Chibok school
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From Yusuf Alli, Abuja
MOTIONS ran high yesterday in Chibok, Borno State, where over 200 schoolgirls were abducted last month. The girls’ parents, schoolmates and members of the Presidential Fact-Finding Committee betrayed emotions when they converged on the burnt school premises. Many of the parents wept as they recalled the incident. The committee Chairman, Brig. Gen. Ibrahim Sabo, was reportedly moved to tears by their accounts. A statement by the panel’s spokesman, Mr. Kingsley Osadolor, said Gen. Sabo assured the parents that the girls would return home safely. According to the statement, the panel was received by Borno State Commissioner for Education Musa Kubo, Chairman of Chibok Local Government Bana Lawan, five District Heads of the Chibok communities, Chairman of the Parents-Teachers Association, the principal, and others, including wailing parents of the abducted girls. The statement said: “Also present were some of the students who escaped from the insurgents. “Members of the Committee visited the burnt-out structures of the Government Secondary School, where the girls were abducted. The receiving party conducted members of the committee round the grounds of the school. “The Principal, Vice Principals, matrons •Civil society groups and Nollywood actors protesting the April 15 abduction of the Chibok girls on Democracy Day in Lagos…yesterday Continued on page 6
PHOTO: AFP
Jonathan offers amnesty to Boko Haram members
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WHERE ARE THE CHIBOK GIRLS KIDNAPPED ON APRIL 15?
President orders full-scale military operation
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RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan yesterday promised to deradicalise, rehabilitate and reintegrate into the society Boko Haram insurgents who renounce violence. “My government while pursuing security measures, will explore all options, including readiness to accept unconditional renunciation of violence by insurgents, and to ensure their deradicalisation, rehabilitation and reintegration into the broader society”, he said in a Democracy Day broadcast. Explaining that he is determined to
From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja
protect democracy, national unity and political stability by waging total war against terrorism, the President said: “I have instructed our security forces to launch a full-scale operation to put an end to the impunity of terrorism on our soil. I have also authorised the security forces to use any means necessary under the law to ensure that this is done.” At a youth forum to mark Democracy Day in Abuja, which was attended
by the President and his wife, Dame Patience, Youth Development Minister Boni Haruna, who shed light on the broadcast, said the government has offered amnesty to Boko Haram members who drop their arms. “A series of integration programmes have been lined up for members of the sect who surrender their arms and embrace peace. Let me use this opportunity on behalf of the Federal Government, to call on members of the Boko Haram sect to embrace the government’s gesture and key into the am-
nesty programme”, Haruna said. The amnesty option indicates that the President has rejected the sect’s proposal to swap the over 200 abducted Chibok schoolgirls with its detained members. With this development, the government, analysts said last night, may call in troops to rescue the girls from where they are being held. Alternatively, the sect may decide to release the girls in exchange for amnesty. Continued on page 6
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