Dapchi Girls: IYC calls for arrest, prosecution of perpetrators

…calls for commission of inquiry

The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) worldwide, in a release on Wednesday, said it received with mixed feelings the release of the Dapchi kidnapped school girls in Yobe State.

It questioned the speed with which the girls were released by the Muslim fundamentalists, who have been holding over two hundred Chibok girls for over two years.

The statement signed by its President, Eric Omare, also viewed with suspicion with the ease with, which the girls were seized by the Boko Haram sect and the motive behind the attack.

It said ”While we express joy with the families of the released school girls; we wish to state clearly that the way and manner in which the school girls were allegedly released by suspected Boko Haram members, calls to question the intention behind the whole incident.

”The IYC is of the view that it is questionable for Boko Haram members to boldly drive into Daphci in the early hours of the day and released the kidnapped girls to the community members. ”If we may ask, where were the security agencies when the Boko Haram members arrived Dapchi? How many of the Boko Haram members who kidnapped the girls were arrested when they arrived Dapchi?

”The entire kidnapped incident raises a lot of question which the federal government need to provide answers to. The IYC therefore call for the setting up of a judicial Commission of Inquiry to unravel the circumstances behind the kidnapped and released of the Dapchi girls.

IYC, called for the arrest of those behind the attack and warned that kidnapping might turn into a serious criminal enterprise in the country, soon.

”We also demand that all those who played one role or the other in the process, should be arrested and made to face the law. We wish to warn that if drastic steps are not taken to nip this ungodly act in the bud; mass kidnap of people especially, school girls would become the next most lucrative business in the northern part of the country and Nigeria at large”.

 By Abai Francis