Chibok Girls: FG Rejects BBOG Conditions For Joining Search In Sambisa

The Federal Government has rejected
the conditions given by the Bring Back
Our Girls group for joining the search
for the missing Chibok girls in Sambisa
Forest .
In a letter addressed to the convener
of the group , Mrs . Obiageli Ezekwesili,
which was made available to the
media on Sunday, the government said
it was unable to postpone the trip as
scheduled .
The letter dated January 14 was signed
by the Minister of Information and
Culture , Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
“ Thank you for your letter , dated
January 13, which is in response to
ours of January 11, requesting that we
change the date of the proposed
guided tour of the North- East to
accommodate a Pre- Tour Meeting
between your organisation and some
top officials of the Federal
Government .
“ We have also noted the conditions
you gave for embarking on the trip
which include the said Pre - Tour
Meeting and the retraction of some
remarks allegedly made by the Chief of
Army Staff, Lt. - Gen . Tukur Buratai ,
which the # BBOG finds to be
slanderous .
“ We regret, however , to inform you
that we are unable to postpone the
trip as scheduled. ’’
The government insisted the team
would proceed on the trip on Monday
as scheduled because of the narrow
window available to have a good
weather on the day.
It said that payment for the satellite
downlink streaming of the mission had
been made for the day and shifting the
date will require another round of
booking to secure such a slot.
The government added that apart from
the BBOG members , local and
international journalists had been
invited for the trip , while some
preparations had been made by the
Nigerian military .
It noted that the remarks purportedly
made by the Chief of Army Staff and
the request for a meeting with its
certain top officials were irrelevant to
its request for the BBOG to join in the
search mission .
The government stressed that it
extended the invitation to the BBOG in
recognition of the group ’s commitment
to the safe release of the Chibok girls
in captivity and interest in the welfare
of those who had been released.
“ We hope that the BBOG will drop its
conditions and join the trip which
shows the commitment of the Federal
Government to securing freedom for
the Chibok girls and its transparency in
handling the issues of the girls. ’’
The government had in a letter of Jan .
11, invited members of BBOG to a
short trip in a military operational
flight into Sambisa forest in search of
the missing Chibok girls.
In the letter, the government asked the
BBOG to nominate three of its
members to join on the guided trip out
of which two would join the sorties
due to limited seats on the search
plane .
The government had stated that the
trip would avail the BBOG the
opportunity to witness and better
understand the efforts being made to
secure the freedom of the girls and
other victims of Book Haram terrorists .
The BBOG had in its reply to the
invitation letter requested the
government to meet certain conditions
before the tour and also demanded for
a change in the scheduled date.
Specifically, the group requested a Pre-
Tour Meeting with some officials of
government and a retraction of some
remarks allegedly made by the Chief of
Army Staff, which it alleged are
defamatory