Chibok girls’ rescue: Clark urges Tinubu to raise special taskforce

An elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark, has asked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to immediately set up a special taskforce consisting of trusted and competent soldiers to rescue the remaining abducted Chibok girls.

Addressing newsmen on Monday in Abuja, Clark, who is leader of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), said Tinubu should give the taskforce a specific timeframe within which to rescue the girls.

Recall that 276 girls who were students of the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, were abducted by the Boko Haram insurgents on April 14, 2014, during the reign of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Last Saturday, the Borno State government said 89 of the 276 abducted girls were still in captivity.

The Commissioner for Information and Internal Security Affairs, Prof. Usman Tar, disclosed this at a press conference to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the abduction. 

Clark said the appointment of the special taskforce by the president should be done without nepotism but based on competence and capacity of the appointees to deliver on their mandate.

He said, “No government has given this Chibok girls’ issue a priority. Some of the girls have come out, others are still there. For one of the girls to say she wants to go back to the bush means that there is a problem somewhere.

“Mr President should appoint a special taskforce as a matter of urgency to rescue those girls. There are committed soldiers, there are some who are not committed. Where are we going? We want a united Nigeria.

“I believe that the federal government under President Tinubu should appoint a competent taskforce comprising the military, without nepotism to rescue these girls.

“Jonathan tried but politics didn’t allow him. President Jonathan should have declared a state of emergency in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa.”