Sequel to the release of a video clip by the insurgent group, Boko Haram, on Monday, which showed some of the over 200 schoolgirls abducted by the Boko Haram sect from Chibok, Borno State, the leadership of the Northern Elders Council has warned against undue politicization of the matter.
Spokesperson for the group, Ambassador Mamman Yusuf, who commended the effort of the Dr. Goodluck Jonathan administration to rescue the abducted girls, said all initiatives must be geared towards the current rescue efforts.
Yusuf, who made this known in a chat with journalists in Abuja on Monday at the venue of the ongoing National Conference, said the spirit and tenacity Nigerians adopted in fighting for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country during the civil war, should also be replicated in rescuing the abducted girls.
He said, “We do not need politics to be made out of this abduction case. We expect that the same way the Nigerian nation came together to fight for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the nation and to have one Nigeria during the civil war, it should be the same scenario with different circumstances.
“We do not believe that politics should be made out of this because lives are involved. The unity, which this unfortunate tragedy has brought among Nigerians, should be devoid of politics and we want to say, politics should take the back seat in the face of national tragedy.
“We just rose from our meeting in Abuja to say we declare total and unequivocal support to the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, President Goodluck Jonathan, the Nigerian Armed Forces, the entire forces as well as officers and men who are doing their best to rescue the abducted girls”.
Yusuf also lauded members of the international community for offering to lend support to Nigeria because in “this age of globalisation, terrorism, security of lives and property, this situation which has united us as a people should be seen as very important”.
