Soldiers ‘detain’ 65 Chibok parents in Borno

Soldiers have detained 65 parents of the abducted Chibok girls who were on their way to Abuja from Borno to participate in the protest of the Bringbackourgirls (BBOG) movement scheduled for Thursday.

According to Tunji Olanrewaju, a member of the BBOG strategic team and spokesman, who spoke with TheCable, the 65 parents were stopped at Askira, near Chibok, in Borno state by soldiers acting on “orders from Above”.

“Over 120 of them (Chibok parents) were supposed to come for the march on Thursday.  So they were leaving Chibok this morning because it is a two-day trip.They set out at 7am  – about 64 0r 65 of them – in several buses, but they were stopped at Askira by soldiers,” Olarenwaju explained.

“Initially, they said the order was from Maiduguri, but later they said it was from above.”

He added that a first batch of the Chibok parents had already left for Abuja before the 65 parents were stopped.

TheCable contacted Sani Usman, army spokesman, for comment on the matter, but he referred us to Rabe Abubakar, director defence information, who did not respond to calls to his phone.

The BBOG citizen movement has scheduled Thursday to re-engage with President Muhammadu on the reason why 219 Chibok schoolgirls have remained in captivity despite his promise to rescue them.

This will be the group’s second “engagement” with the president. The first was in July 2015, two months after he was sworn in.