Buhari supporters beg ‘BringBackOurGirls’ group to shelve march

Oby Ezekwezili, one of the leaders, addresses #BringBackOurGirls protesters in Abuja

A group, Buhari Media Support Group, (BMSG), has appealed to the “BringBackOurGirls” to shelve its proposed demonstration to the Presidential Villa.

The group in a statement signed by one of its members, Muhammad Labo on Friday, said this was necessary to avoid complications and anything capable of undermining efforts of the government to rescue the girls unharmed.‬

Labo noted that playing politics with the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls was unhelpful and embarrassing to the government and counterproductive to the silent efforts of the military to rescue them.‬

‪He said the government would take serious exception to the mobilisation of the parents of the kidnapped girls to score political advantage or exploiting the tragedy to play to the gallery.‬

Labo said dragging the parents of the victims to Abuja for endless demonstrations would only compound a bad situation, and give them the impression that a rescue mission “is as simple as abc.”

‪According to him, the Bring Back Our Girls Group should not claim monopoly of patriotism and humanity over the government by seeking to undermine the silent efforts of the military to map out strategies to safely rescue the girls.‬

‪He said if there was a formula for rescuing the girls within 24 hours unharmed, government would have done that, reminding the Bring Back Our Girls group of the complexities and sensitivity of hostage rescue missions.‬

‪”The terrorists have no rules of engagement and therefore, would not mind killing all the hostages if the Nigerian military attempts any rash action.‬”

‪He urged the group not to blackmail and stampede the government into doing something which might lead to the large-scale deaths of the hostages, adding their captors had no regard for the sanctity of life.‬

‪”Any rescue attempt that leaves the kidnapped girls dead would not worth it.

“Our armed forces have been working hard on plans and strategies of how to rescue the girls but don’t have to publicise their plans because absolute secrecy is needed.‬

‪”The primary objective of any rescue mission is to get the hostages alive and unharmed,” he said.

He advised the Bring Back Our Girls Group to support the government in its efforts to deal with the challenge rationally.

‪Labo said the BMSG reject efforts by the Bring Back Our Girls group to portray the government as insensitive or inhuman because it did not act according their idealistic theories of easy rescue mission.‬

“If a reckless rescue effort results in disaster for hostages, the advocacy group would be the first to crucify the government for sacrificing the lives of the girls.‬”

‪He noted that the recent Boko Haram video clip was a propaganda effort to force the government surrender to terrorists and release their members in custody.‬