…Children have spent over 130 days in captivity
… ‘Rescue our children or we’ll take over streets of Presidential Villa’
…Parents question disparity in response to school abductions
Daud Olatunji
Parents and community leaders in Mussa and Lassa communities in Askira/Uba Local Government Area of Borno State have given the Federal Government a six-day ultimatum to secure the release of 36 students abducted from Government Day Secondary School, Lassa.
The parents, who protested on Monday over the continued captivity of the students, threatened to march on the Presidential Villa, Abuja, if the children were not rescued within the period.
The students were reportedly abducted in June while sitting for the National Examinations Council examination after armed men invaded the school and took away several candidates.
More than 130 days after the incident, the students remain in captivity, according to their parents and community representatives.
The protest has renewed calls for intensified efforts by the Federal Government and security agencies to secure the safe return of the children.
Leading the protesters, the chairman of the Borno pupils’ parents, Ishaku Suya, appealed to President Bola Tinubu to personally intervene in the matter and direct the security agencies to rescue the students.
Suya said the parents would be forced to take their protest to the seat of government if the children remained in captivity after the ultimatum.
“I’m making this loudest call to Mr President that we, the parents of the abducted children of Mussa and Lassa, will take over the streets of the Presidential Villa if he doesn’t rescue our children as he rescued the Oyo children,” he said.
“You should either kill us, leave us alive, or rescue our children.”
Another parent, Josphin Yohanna, questioned what she described as differences in the government’s response to the abduction of schoolchildren in different parts of the country.
Yohanna argued that the reported rescue of abducted children in Oyo State demonstrated that the government and security agencies could mobilise resources to secure the release of children held by criminal groups.
She urged the President to show similar urgency in addressing the situation in the North-East.
“Why shouldn’t the President extend similar urgency to our children in the North-East?” she asked.
The acting district head of Lassa, Wadzani Hammatu, said the situation had become increasingly distressing for the affected communities.
Hammatu further claimed that some of those abducted included very young children, allegedly between one and three years old.
“We are pleading with the government to rescue our children because the issue is becoming unbearable,” he said.
“Only God will help us, but the government should try.”
The Emir of Uba, Ali Samaila Mamza, also appealed to the Federal Government, the Borno State Government and the Askira/Uba Local Government authorities to intensify efforts to secure the safe return of the abducted children.
Mamza said the affected communities had continued to look to God while expecting concrete action from the authorities.
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