By Florence Israel, Abuja
He said it was clear that the kind of disdain for human life which the PDP exhibited in its incautious statement is the same reason the poor girls were kidnapped in the first instance, and for which then PDP-controlled Federal Government took what seemed an eternity before acknowledging the abduction – thus losing critical time for their rescue.
The Federal Government has lashed out at a statement credited to the People’s Democratic Party’s faction against the process leading to the recent release of the 82 Chibok Girls, describing it as indecent, inhuman and ill-timed.
In a statement released on Monday, the Minister Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the politically motivated comments, aimed to douse the joy that greeted the release of the Chibok girls, was patently insensitive, especially since the abduction happened over three years ago under the watch of the same PDP.
He noted that the ill-advised statement revealed that the PDP was neither wishing nor praying for the safe return of the abducted girls even as the Minister went further to assure Nigerians that Presidentn Muhammadu Buhari would definitely fulfill his campaign promises concerning the Chibok girls.
“In his inaugural address, President Muhammadu Buhari said the administration cannot claim to have defeated Boko Haram without rescuing the Chibok girls. He also said this government WILL DO ALL IT CAN to rescue them alive.
“If that includes swapping some Boko Haram elements for the girls, so what? Will the PDP rather have the girls stay in perpetual captivity, just to prove a ludicrous point? Didn’t superpower United States engage in negotiations with the Taliban that led to the exchange of five Taliban fighters for US Army Sgt Bowe Bergdahl in 2014? Didn’t
Israel release 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for one Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, in 2011?
”A lot of factors come into play when a nation has to decide whether or not to engage in prisoner/hostage swap. None, however, trounces the sanctity attached to human life and the consideration for the pains of the loved ones of those involved,” Alhaji Mohammed said.
He said it was clear that the kind of disdain for human life which the PDP exhibited in its incautious statement is the same reason the poor girls were kidnapped in the first instance, and for which then PDP-controlled Federal Government took what seemed an eternity before acknowledging the abduction – thus losing critical time for their rescue.
He further cautioned the PDP to give the nation a breathing space while this government works hard to clean the mess the party created especially during the past administration.
“Since the PDP failed – as it did in everything – to rescue even one of the Chibok girls, the party should hold its peace while this administration continues to seek the release of all the abducted girls, using every means at its disposal in addition to working assiduously, to end all Boko Haram hostilities”.
