Group Demands Release Of C’ttee Report On Kidnapped Chibok Girls

The #BringBackOurGirls(BBOG) Movement has asked the Federal Government to release the report of the fact finding committee on the abduction of Chibok schoolgirls commissioned by the Goodluck Jonathan administration

Recall that Jonathan, weeks after the abduction of the schoolgirls in 2014, inaugurated a fact-finding committee chaired by Ibrahim Sabo, a retired general.

According to Jonathan, setting up the committee “was a necessary step which the government must take to confront the sad circumstances surrounding the abduction of female students, our daughters in Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok.”

Sabo, while speaking to journalists after the inauguration, also disclosed that his 30-man committee was on a fact finding mission “to cover the lacuna of the babel of information regarding the number of children abducted and the number of those released.”

However, while the report by the Committee was submitted to President Jonathan, the content of the report was not made known to the public.

According to the BBOG in a statement on Sunday, the Tinubu administration, like its predecessors, has also failed to release the Sabo Fact-Finding Committee Report despite the movement’s request, including through a Freedom of Information (FoI) process.

Part of the statement which was signed by the group’s spokesperson, Jeff Okoroafor stated, “BBOG uses the opportunity of our rebuttal to crucially remind the public that on the night of 14–15 April 2014 that 276 schoolgirls were abducted from their school, Government Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, North-East Nigeria by terrorists.

“When news broke on social media on April 15 on the abduction, conversations and demands for a statement by the Government of Nigeria was massively building up. On April 23, 2014, a hashtag.

“#BringBackOurGirls“ went viral and was adopted across the world to drive a strong online campaign to compel the Nigerian government to launch a rescue for the reported missing school girls.

“The traumatized Nigerian public soon adopted the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls for a protest march to the National Assembly on April 30, 2014. The protesters collectively agreed at the end of their march to stay on campaigning for evidence of urgent action by the Government of Nigeria to rescue the missing Chibok school girls.

“Regrettably, the Government of Nigeria maintained troubling silence on the tragedy for three weeks until when then President Jonathan inaugurated the Brigadier General Mohammed Sabo Fact-Finding Committee on 6 May 2024 to investigate and verify the tragedy.

“The Sabo-Committee submitted an investigation report on 20 June 2014 to the Government of Nigeria confirming that two hundred and seventy-six Chibok girls were indeed abducted on the night of April 14, 2014.

“The Committee report further stated that fifty-seven (57) of the abducted girls escaped and officially declared two hundred and nineteen (219) Chibok school girls missing.

“As of today, 10 February, 2025, One hundred and forty-one (141) of the missing two hundred and nineteen (219) Chibok girls are back and with majority returned to schools for their education.

“Most tragically, seventy-eight (78) remain missing and still unaccounted for by the Government of Nigeria while informal sources allege that they might have integrated into life within the terrorist enclaves.

“The #BringBackOurGirls movement wishes to remind the President Bola Tinubu administration of their constitutional duty to protect all citizens. To this effect, the Administration has a duty to provide account on the status of the rescue of the remaining Chibok girls to their families and the Nigerian people. We reiterate the importance of bringing closure for the families of the remaining 78 missing school children.

“Critically, the Tinubu administration has like their predecessors failed to release the Sabo Fact-Finding Committee Report despite our movement’s request including through an FoI process.

“All citizens should therefore join BBOG to demand for comprehensive public disclosure on the tragedy and release of all investigations conducted into the abduction of the Chibok secondary school girls on April 14, 2014.”

Group Demands Release Of C’ttee Report On Kidnapped Chibok Girls is first published on The Whistler Newspaper