High drama played out in Abuja Tuesday as policemen halted promoters of the BringBackOurGirls group to access the Presidential Villa to engage with President Goodluck Jonathan, on efforts of the security agencies to rescue the over 200 Chibok schoolgirls still in Boko Haram captivity for 183 days.
The promoters had mobilised women of diverse ages, some of them barely literate, for the cause. However some of the women betrayed what may have been a secret deal as they bickered over sharing of money after the event. Our correspondent watched some of the departing women at the open park by Transcorp Hilton squabble over transport money handed to them by the organisers of the protest.
By 5pm Tuesday, some of the women who were bused to the take-off point of the protest were seen stranded at Transcorp Hilton.
The protesters were stopped from accessing the villa gate and their protest was restricted to the Yakubu Gowon Crescent, Asokoro, Abuja, where they were addressed by an all-female government delegation including the Minister for Women Affairs, Hajia Zainab Maina, the Minister of Environment, Mrs. Lawrencia Laraba-Mallam, the Minister of Land and Housing, Mrs. Akon Eyakenyi, and the Minister of Water Resources, Mrs. Sarah Ochekpe.
The procession created traffic snarl in the Maitama-Asokoro axis of Abuja as motorists and pedestrians, who wanted to use the Gowon Crescent access road to the villa, were turned back by stern-looking security personnel, who barricaded the road with their vehicles.
Maina, while addressing the movement said the Federal Government was doing everything possible to ensure the safe release of the schoolgirls.
She said, “We are here to meet you because Mr. President is very busy today and he cannot come out. The government is trying all it could to make sure that these girls are brought back. They are our daughters. We are all mothers; as much as it hurts you, it hurts us. You know as well as we do that some of you are very much aware of the efforts that the government has been making to make sure that these our daughters are brought back alive.”
An angry former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwezili, and chief promoter of the group accused the ministers of colluding with the police to prevent the protesters from meeting with Jonathan
