President Muhammadu Buhari and the security forces have been urged to borrow a leaf from Britain on how it coordinated the search eleven years running of the then 4-year-old Madeleine Mccann and adopt same method in search of Christian teenager, Miss. Leah Sharibu.
McCann, born 12 May, 2003 disappeared on the evening of 3 May, 2007 from her bed in a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, a resort in the Algarve region of Portugal. Her whereabouts, however, remain unknown till date.
This call was made by the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA in observation of the 16th birthday anniversary of the Yobe State born Christian teenager.
Leah was abducted by Boko Haram terrorists alongside her Moslem colleagues, who were all released on the intervention of the Federal Government.
HURIWA challenged the Nigerian government to publish the records of how much it has spent so far in the rescue efforts.
The association said it was shameful that whereas Nigeria pretends to be practicing constitutional democracy with transparency and accountability as the key principles, it has failed to render public account of the financial commitments it has made in the rescue of the hundreds of girls abducted by the armed Islamists of Boko Haram terrorists.
Wondering why Nigerian government do not copy the positive examples of Great Britain which periodically publishes public expenses on such cases including the subsisting case of the then little Madeleine McCann, who disappeared in Portugal about eleven years ago, HURIWA regretted that the Nigerian government does not even seem to be making any concrete effort to free Leah Sharibu and the remaining Chibok girls.
HURIWA recalled that in Great Britain, detectives have been granted more money to continue the search for Madeleine McCann, nearing 11 years since her disappearance while on holiday with her family in Portugal.
The statement recalled that so far more than £11.75m has been spent on the UK’s investigation, named Operation Grange.
HURIWA recalled that British Government’s funding has been agreed every six months, with £154,000 being granted from October last year until the end of March 2019 just as it is thought the latest round of funding will be as much as £150,000.
The group also accused the religious leaders of the Christian Association of Nigeria of doing next to nothing to ensure that the Nigerian Government fulfills its obligations to guarantee security of life of the then 14-year-old Christian girl whose reason for continuous detention by the terrorists is that she is a Christian.
HURIWA’s statement signed by Emmanuel Onwubiko, added, “As citizens with equal rights and responsibilities, we demand that President Muhammadu Buhari should direct the security forces to publish the financial details of what government has committed in the efforts to rescue the Chibok and Dapchi school girls kidnapped by the Boko Haram terrorists. Great Britain does same whenever citizens are missing.”
