The Coalition Against Terrorism and Extremism (CATE) has appealed to Ahmed Salkida, a journalist, and activists Aisha Wakil and Ahmed Bolori, to help secure the release of the Chibok Girls from Boko Haram insurgents.
CATE also appealed to the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) group, which has been in the vanguard of the release campaign, to direct its planned protest at Salkida, Wakil and Bolori.
A statement yesterday by its National Coordinator Gabriel Onoja said the trio possibly knew more about Boko Haram than the security agencies believed.
The statement reads: โWe want the abducted girls back now that their captors have released a video to convince the world that many of them are still alive. The abduction is evil and the girlsโ travails are felt by Nigerians. This is why it is painful that after more than two years and despite several operations, promises, failed negotiations and dashed expectations, the girls are still captives.
โWe must note that despite the girls still being held captive, we appreciate efforts by the military in defeating the terrorists; the way they degraded the groupโs fighting capabilities. This imminent defeat is likely the reason Boko Haram is now using the girls as a bait to stall further military operations against them and to have time to regroup.
โWe have also seen something the country overlooked since the abduction โ there are Nigerians that have the information about the girls, and who possibly know more about Boko Haram insurgency than the security agencies once had cause to believe. They declared Ahmad Salkida, Aisha Wakil and Ahmed Bolori wanted in connection with the information they have about the whereabouts of the girls and Boko, considering the unfettered access they have to the terrorists.
โThe refreshed leadership of Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) group has also been reported to have similar information and some measure of access to the terrorists.
โCoalition Against Terrorism and Extremism, therefore, appeal to the trio and other persons with direct link to Boko Haram to prevail on them to release the girls unconditionally. The girls, their families and the country have suffered enough.
โWe extend the same appeal to BBOG; it should use its connections to appeal to Salkida, Wakil and Bolori to help end the nightmare that has become the daily lives of these children. โNigerians should please beg the trio and BBOG because time is running out and the defeated terrorists are becoming increasingly more desperate. This has been exacerbated by the knowledge that their contacts in the outside world are now known to the authorities. We should all appeal to human conscience of those involved as time is no longer on our side.โ
