Chibok Community Unhappy To Celebrate Christmas without Daughters

As the world celebrates Christmas today, the Chibok Community has expressed sadness that they had to celebrate without their daughters who were abducted by the Boko Haram sect in their school since April 14, 2014.

Speaking during an interview, the vice chairman of Chibok Community in Abuja, Mutah Nkeki stated that Christmas would never be the same again for his people as they had to spend time worrying about how their children were faring in the hands of the terrorists.
“ We are saddened. Our girls are not back with us. It is devastating that we can’t celebrate this day with them. In a community, 219 girls are abducted. How many of us are remaining then? These girls are in their productive stage. Their absence is affecting on the community and it is like an entire tribe has been wiped out,” he said.
Nkeki who is also an uncle to two of the abducted girls stated that the community have lost hope in the government of the country who after eight months, have not been able to bring back the abducted girls.
“ We have lost hope on the government. The way the abduction of our girls was being handled has shown us that we are not regarded as people important in the country. Compare how our Chibok girls’ abduction was handled to how Pakistan handled the case of 141 people including 132 children who were killed by the Taliban at an army-run school in Peshawar. Its response was immediate. If our government had responded immediately, our girls would have been back with us by now,” he said.
Nkeki who decried the neglect of his community expressed gratitude to the missionaries who he said had made the people embrace education adding that with no accessible road and basic amenities, the community has strived to grow and progress against all odds.
He however said that the issue of insecurity has broken ‘their back bone’ as his people have to run away from their land, staying in ‘foreign lands’ to celebrate Christmas an occasion which they have always looked forward to.
“ If it was then, by now, you would not have seen any Chibok person in Abuja. We would have all travelled home to celebrate the Christmas with our families and friends. Now, we are expecting our family members to come here in Abuja. We will celebrate in another person’s land without our children,” he said.
The vice chairman however stated that the community is believing in God that one day, their daughters will be back to them and expressed gratitude to the #BringBackOurGirls (BBOG) group who had stood with them since the abduction and had vowed to continue standing with them until the girls are back and alive.
Meanwhile, as part of efforts to keep the rescue of the missing 216 Chibok girls on the front burner of national agenda, the #BBOG Abuja Family will today, organise a special Christmas session for the abducted girls.

 Photo: Chibok women