Mothers agonise over abducted pupils
With heavy hearts, mothers of some of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls yesterday in Lagos recalled their nightmares since the April 15 incident.
The women, at a gathering at the Intercontinental Hotel on Victoria Island, Lagos, said they were worried over the Federal Government’s handling of the girls’ rescue.
In the audience were visiting United States (U.S.) Congressman Louie Gohmert, former Lagos State Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) and founder of a non-governmental organisation, Omoluabi Network, Pastor Ladi Thompson.
The event was organised by the Omoluabi Network in conjunction with the Chibok-based Gabassawa Women led by Kusheli Balami and the California-based Erica Grieve-led Unlikely Heroes.
The gathering was moved to tears when Mrs. Esther Yakubu, Mrs Ruth Bitris and Mrs Monica Sitover, who were accompanied by three of the escapee girls, told their stories.
There was pin drop silence as Mrs Yakubu relived the April 15 bitter enterprise.
In tears, she said: “April 14 is a date I will never forget in history. It was around 11pm when my mother-in-law called to wake me up to what still remains a nightmare to me. She told me that she heard that some gunmen had come to abduct our children in school. I heeded her call and made towards the school. Guns boomed between about 11.30pm and about 4am. I was almost dead where I hid, shivering.
“They broke into the school’s premises with a rocket launcher. I passed through there into the premises. They set everything on fire. I got to the hostel; it was empty. It was at that point that it dawned on me that they had kidnapped my first baby. Then, I asked God repeatedly: “Why me … why me…?”
She could not continue as she was overwhelmed by tears. Mrs. Yakubu begged the government to rise to the situation and rescue the girls.
Mrs Bitris, who spoke through Pastor Philip Madu, said she wept until she could no longer walk before Pastor Thompson and his co-caregivers came to bring them to Lagos for therapy.
“I cannot explain what has kept me alive this far since the devil’s agent invaded our children’s school, carting them away. Before then, we had lived together as our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers. Our religious beliefs never meant anything to us. No one knows what these people (the insurgents) wanted. They just came and seized our joy. We are begging government to see to this situation. We are helpless; we are as good as dead for now,” she said.
Mrs Sitover caused a stir when, after about two minutes, she started rolling on the floor, urging God and people of the world to ensure that her child is rescued and brought back to her in sound health.
Rising to her feet, she said: “When I was told that our girls had been packed away by the gunmen, I lost control of myself. That I am still breathing today is by the grace of God; It is a miracle. For two days, I was roaming the bush to see if I could set my eyes on my child.
“I am in pains; we are in real trouble. I am pleading with the world to help us find our children and bring peace back into our community and our country …”.
Gohmert, who said insurgency is unacceptable, urged the women not to give up hope on their children. The US, he said, would prove to Nigeria to be a friend indeed.
Gohmert hugged and shook hands with the women, urging them to take heart and be assured that their children would be found and brought back to them. He also encouraged the three veiled schoolgirls, who were said to have escaped from their abductors.
“The hate, the callousness of the terrorists, their willingness to kill fellow human beings and the abduction of the innocent girls are condemnable in the least. It is an evil that must stop. The evil being inflicted by Boko Haram is unacceptable. I have come here with a message of hope. I hope the US will prove to be the friend they are to Nigeria and be part of efforts to find solution to this problem.
“The Federal Government in Nigeria must realise the fact that Christians and Muslims have, over the years, been living together without any problem. It must realise the gravity of the pains that the Boko Haram has inflicted on Nigerians and stop them forthwith,” Gohmert added.
Likening the ordeal of the abducted girls to that of the biblical Joseph, he expressed hope that the girls would be brought back safely to re-unite with their parents.
Pastor Thompson said his organisation invited Gohmert to the country to feel the girls’ mothers plight and appeal to the US government to help Nigeria in this dark hour.
“Unless the Federal Government and indeed, the world quickly separate religion from the work of the devil that is casting darkness over the country, Nigeria may cease to be in the next 18 months,” he said.
There was gloom in the hall when Balami fought back tears while begging Gohmert to pressure his country “and the entire world to come to the aid of the abducted girls, their mothers and our terrorised country.”
Osinbajo said: “The coming of the US Congressman underscores the importance attached to the matter. It is absurd for anybody or a group of people to attempt to politicise the serious issue that we have on our hands now. We must come together to fight the evil no matter our faiths. It doesn’t matter whether you are a Christian, a Muslim or a pagan. It is a problem that we must jointly confront.”
Since bringing the girls and their mothers to Lagos for “comprehensive therapy”, Grieve said they had been displaying symptoms of trauma, adding: “The girls are still in shock; they want their friends back and the mothers want their children back too.”
Mosunmola Umoru, a youth representative at the National Conference, said: “At the moment, we must bury our religious and ethnic differences and fight the darkness that is looming on our country. I join other worried Nigerians to beg the Federal Government to do everything to end insurgency, rescue and care for the girls and their traumatised mothers.”
