After his meeting with Chibok girls parents, Buhari orders fresh probe into ChibokGirls incident

Press statement from the Presidency ...
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved
an investigation into the theft of the 219 gIrls
from Government Secondary in Chibok,
Borno State. The panel to investigate the
incident which happened in April 2014 is
soon to be named by the National Security
Adviser, NSA, General Babagana Munguno.
The investigation will seek to, among other
things, unravel the remote and immediate
circumstances leading the kidnap of the girls
by Boko Haram terrorists as well the other
events, actions and inactions that followed
the incident.
This came to light just as the President, in Abuja,
assured parents of the Chibok girls that he has
been doing his best and will continue to do
everything possible to rescue them and re-unite
them with their families.
Speaking at a meeting attended by some parents of
the abducted girls, representatives of the Chibok
community and members of the Bring Back Our
Girls movement at the Conference Hall of the State
House, President Buhari said that he remained fully
committed to his pledge to do all within his
powers to save the girls.
"I assure you that I go to bed and wake up every
day with the Chibok girls on my mind. "The
unfortunate incident happened before this
government came into being. "What have we done
since we assumed office? We re-organized the
military, removed all the service chiefs and ordered
the succeeding service chiefs to deal decisively
with the Boko Haram insurgency.
"In spite of the terrible economic condition we
found ourselves in, we tried to get some resources
to give to the military to reorganize and equip,
retrain, deploy more troops and move more
forcefully against Boko Haram. "And you all know
the progress we have made. When we came in
Boko Haram was in Adamawa, Yobe and Borno.
Boko Haram has now been reduced to areas
around Lake Chad. "Securing the Chibok girls is
my responsibility.
The service chiefs and heads of our security
agencies will tell you that in spite of the dire
financial straits that we found the country in, I
continue to do my best to support their efforts in
that regard. "This is a Nigeria where we were
exporting average of two million barrels per day at
over 140 dollars per barrel. Now it is down to
about 27 to 30 dollars. "You have been reading in
the press how they took public funds, our funds,
your funds and shared it, instead of buying
weapons. That was the kind of leadership I
succeeded. That was the kind of economy I
inherited. "God knows I have done my best and I
will continue to do my best," President Buhari
said.
The President was accompanied by the Minister of
Defence, Mansur Mohammed Dan Ali, Minister of
Women Affairs, Hajiya Aisha Alhassan, Chief of
Defence Staff, Gen Gabriel Olonisakin, Chief of
Army Staff, Lt.-Gen Tukur Buratai and the National
Security Adviser, Maj.-Gen Babagana Monguno
(rtd).
In his remarks, the Chief of Defence staff told the
meeting that in the last three months the military
has liberated more than 3000 people kidnapped by
Boko Haram in the North eastern part of the
country. He said that the military had the ability to
rescue the Chibok girls, but added that
"intelligence is delicate and we don't want to
anything to jeopardize the lives of the girls."
Garba Shehu
Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media &
Publicity)
January 14, 2015