Presidency gave girls, parents N22.4m ! – Chibok community

Goodluck Jonatha

The Kibaku Area Development Association (Chibok community), has explained that the Presidency shared N22.4m to the Chibok parents and the escaped girls that held a meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan on July 22, contrary to reports that N100m was doled out to the recipients.

The Chibok community leadership refuted allegations that it was given N100m to share to the parents and women, adding that it did not handle or receive any money from the Presidency.

The association in a press statement signed by its spokesman, Dauda Ilya, in Abuja on Wednesday, said that 63 individuals comprising 51 escaped girls were given N100,000 each, 51 parents equally received N100,000 each and another 61 parents got N200,000 each.

The community stated that 10 parents out of the 122 that took part in the meeting with Jonathan did not receive any money.

It said, “On the night of the July 22, 2014 at about midnight, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Special Duties who had been coordinating the visit on the side of the Presidency, visited the hotel and told the 51 escaped girls who came that the Presidency sent them a token of N100,000 each and accordingly gave them the said sum without prior discussion with any KADA official or any other person in the community.

“He equally gave N200,000 each of the 61 parents out of the 122 parents that came on the visit. Fifty-one parents were given N100,000 each on the basis that the money given to him was not enough to go round at N200,000. The remaining 10 parents were not given any amount of money.

“As for the money given to some parents back home in Chibok, it was the N1m given to them by the member of the House of Representatives representing Chibok/Damboa/Gwoza Federal Constituency which is the source of the alleged N7,000.00 given to parents in Chibok that were not part of the visit.”

The association said it was disturbed and disgusted by media reports that its leadership received money from the Presidency, describing the claim as “false, malicious and unfounded.”

The KADA stated that it had spelt out to the Presidency through the Office of the Chief of Staff that it would not be involved with any financial transaction whatsoever, including payment of transportation from Chibok to Yola, flight tickets from Yola to Abuja, hotel accommodation and feeding in Abuja, as well as the intra-city transportation of the parents and girls while in Abuja.

It said, “Our primary priority has and remains the rescue of our abducted 219 daughters. Our association has been at the forefront of calling for decisive measures to secure their release.

“We took the moral high ground as a community association that represents the Chibok people in Abuja to facilitate the recent visit of parents of our abducted daughters and 51 of the 57 that escaped.

“We helped make that visit possible despite our misgivings that it was a poor substitute to our expectation that Mr. President should have visited Chibok even before the visit of our people for a tragedy that is now 107 days old.”

The Chibok community said while it welcomed any well intended support for the suffering population of Chibok town who had lost their means of livelihood since the April 14 abduction of over 200 schoolgirls, “however, the approach the Presidency has adopted has brought reproach and dishonor to our community in the eyes of the public that has supported us since the abduction of our daughters.”