Investigations have revealed that desperate politicians have hijacked the ongoing street protests in several states over the abduction of over 200 female students of Government Girls’ Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State by Boko Haram sect members.
Findings by our correspondents across the country revealed that influential politicians, including a former presidential candidate and a former minister were behind the street protests.
Street protests with the theme “Bring our girls back” have been staged in several cities including Abuja, Lagos, Lafia, Ibadan, Port Harcourt, Ilorin, Ondo, Calabar, and Abakaliki.
In Ogun State, Governor Ibikunle Amosu and his two wives led the protest in Abeokuta, the state capital.
Nigerian Pilot check further reveals that unknown to almost all those who participated, money for the printing of posters, banners, Face caps, Tee-shirts, uniforms and other logistics, including welfare for the protesters are coming from the aides of the politicians who have opted to operate from the background.
It was gathered that the politicians who are sponsoring the protest marches decided to remain faceless so that the demonstrations will not end up like the 2012 fuel subsidy strike which organised labour and civil society groups abandoned when it became apparent that opposition politicians had taken over the protest for selfish reasons.
Outrage over the abduction of the underage girls has since become a global issue as all the super powers have pledged to assist the Federal Government rescue the girls from Boko Haram den.
Unlike their usual method of owning up anytime it is involved in bombings and killings, Boko Haram’s claim came more than two weeks after the girls were abducted.
Before they claimed responsibility, the Borno State Governor Alhaji Kashim Shetimma was under pressure to open up on the role his government played in the abduction of the girls since the school was supposed to be closed.
The state government and the school authorities have since refused to make public the names and pictures of the abducted girls.
It took the interveåntion of the West African Examinations Council, WAEC, for the list of the students that registered for the examination in the school to be made public.
WAEC also said they advised the governors of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states to relocate all the students who are taking the Senior Secondary School Examinations, SSCE, to their state capitals for security reasons, but the governors declined, giving the examination body assurances that they would provide security for the students anywhere their schools are located.
The Borno State government has since relocated the remaining students who survived the abduction saga to Maiduguri.
In Oyo Staßπte, wife of the Governor, Mrs. Florence Ajimobi, yesterday led thousands of women and school children on a protest rally against the abduction of the students.
In a statement issued yesterday by the Senior Special Adviser to the Governor on Media, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, the Imo First Lady will lead other women of the state on a road march to protest the inhuman attack on the school girls by Boko Haram terrorists.
Source: Nigerian Pilot
