Malala’s Quest : 12 Parents, Five Girls Decline to Meet with President Jonathan

July 15, 2014 – The Presidency on Tuesday accused the Dr. Oby Ezekwesili-led Bring Back Our Girls campaigners of aborting scheduled meeting between President Goodluck Jonathan and the Chibok girls who escaped from Boko Haram’s captivity and their parents.

President Goodluck Jonathan had agreed to meet with the 12 parents and five girls following request by the Pakistani Compulsory Education for the Girl Child crusader, Malala Yousafzai that the President should meet with the girls and their parents.

The Presidency called off the meeting in the last minutes. Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe said the president was “extremely distraught. He cannot understand this. He cannot fathom this – that Nigeria’s mothers will do this type of thing for children.

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“Unfortunately, political forces within the Nigerian chapter of Bring Back Our Girls have decided to take this opportunity to play politics with the situation and the grief of the parents and the girls. They should be ashamed of their actions,” he said, adding that the Bring Back Our Girls campaigners prevailed on the 12 parents and the girls to shun the meeting with the President.