Fayose faults FG’s claim on recovery of 21 Chibok girls

Ekiti State governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, on Wednesday, in Lagos, again faulted the recent claim by the Federal Government that 21 Chibok Girls were recovered from the enclave of Boko Haram out of the over 200 girls which the dreaded sect abducted over two years ago.

The Ekiti State governor also insisted that the claim made by the President Muhammadu Buhari led government that it has commenced payment of N5,000 each monthly to 1million poor Nigerians was not true as no more in the state had received such payment.

Addressing newsmen in his Lagos residence, Fayose said there was no iota of truth in all the claims ever made on the 21 recovered Chibok Girls, the payment of N5,000 each to 1million Nigerians and promise to feed school children, pointing out that the government was always ready to lay such claims each time they were being pressured by Nigerians.

“You should remember that it was when these Bring Back Our Girls reacted, when it became issues that they quickly made arrangements to douse that tension because it was consuming them,” he said

“This Christmas was consuming enough, now inside the paper yesterday, they said they have started the N5,000 payment to 1million people. The food for students, have they started?” he added.

Speaking essentially on the Chibok Girls’ issue, the Ekiti State governor said, “Let me tell you again, I have said it severally that there is no iota of truth in the recovered Chibok Girls. My name is Ayo Fayose, quote me again, there is no iota of truth and I will prove it to you.

“One, those girls and their hired mothers were trained for more than three months. One of the reporters of Punch wrote on that incident in the Villa and said that as they were trying to approach the girls, they were quickly taking away by security agents. They (journalists) were not allowed access to them.

“They gave this lady who was supposed to be doing physics exams when they were abducted to read address, she couldn’t read the address. All Nigerians, we cannot all be gullible.

“Let me go further to let you know. In theatre, none of you knows each other except you are theatre practitioners. You now come together, they now hired you to come and act this part and that part. They carried them and trained them together, this story would be told by Nigerians one say.”

The governor, however, urged newshounds in the country to do more of investigative than reporting, wondering why the Federal Government had failed to reunite the affected girls with the families since.

“And let me say it to you, this question you need to unravel, the press needs to unravel this question. Why are these girls not returned home? If you stole my daughter two years ago, so when my daughter now came back, so she will still not come to me, you now took them for Christmas and returned them to Abuja. Something is wrong.

“Then somebody brought a flag and Quran from Sambisa Forest, flag that can be designed by any road side mechanic and you are celebrating on television. Let us stand to reason. Let us go beyond reporting, let’s do more findings,” Governor Fayose said.