Borno parents shelve Abuja protest over logistics – Daily Trust

Exactly 150 days after their kids have been seized by terrorists, distressed parents of 78 kidnapped schoolchildren in Borno State have been pressured to postpone a deliberate mass protest on the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

The postponement comes because the households grapple with crippling poverty, an absence of transport fares, and the wrestle to go away behind meals for his or her remaining dependants.

The kids have been in captivity following two separate mass kidnappings within the Askira-Uba Local Government Area of Borno State, the place 42 college pupils have been kidnapped in Mussa on May 15, and 36 school college students have been seized in Lassa on June 29, 2026.

The determined households initially issued a six-day ultimatum to the Federal Government between September 21 and 27, 2026, demanding the rescue of their kids.

However, the deadline elapsed with none official communication from the federal government. Compounding their frustration, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu travelled in another country throughout the interval, making a visit to the capital impractical on the time.

Speaking on the expiration of the deadline, the chairman of the Abducted Children’s Parents Association, Ishaku Suya, defined that the households lacked the monetary sources required to journey to Abuja and maintain an indefinite protest as deliberate.

“You know, we must plan it very well. We need to have enough resources to settle our families back home and cover the expenses we will incur in Abuja, because we are not coming back until the President talks to us,” the chairman mentioned.

He famous that many households are at present attempting to reap crops to mobilise funds for the journey. “We must keep food here, pay transport fare, and provide upkeep money while staying there, because no one knows how long we will stay.”

Describing the insufferable toll the state of affairs is taking up the moms of the victims, Suya mentioned many have stopped consuming and deserted their farms as a result of grief.

“They are always crying, and they don’t eat food … They need us very close to them,” he lamented.

He made an emotional enchantment to the media and residents throughout Nigeria to amplify their voices. “Our children are everyone’s children. I want you to feel the excruciating pain we are enduring.”

FG’s ‘double standard’

Some of the parents who spoke to our correspondent expressed deep anger over what they described as the federal government’s inaction and a obvious disparity in how safety crises are dealt with throughout totally different areas of the nation.

Sale Buba, one of many affected parents, questioned the federal government’s dedication, pointing to a double customary within the rescue missions.

He famous that the Borno kids have been kidnapped on the identical day terrorists kidnapped greater than 40 college students and lecturers in Oriire LGA of Oyo State.

He mentioned that whereas the Oyo victims regained their freedom after 56 days in captivity, the Borno kids have spent practically 5 months in militant enclaves with none motion by the president.

“They know that our children are in the Damboa forest, but they refused to deploy tracking drones and top military brass to handle their rescue operation as they did in Oyo,” Buba mentioned.

“What did the president do when he wanted the Oyo children to be rescued? Why not apply it here? Enough of these deceptions.”

Another mother or father from Lassa, Mr Samuel Emmanuel, lamented that following the kidnapping, most farmers had left their farmlands unattended.

“Many of us were afraid to visit remote farmlands; we left them unattended, so crops we worked so hard to cultivate were destroyed. We could not get anything,” he mentioned.

Most of the parents acknowledged that the final time they’d any official contact was throughout a gathering with Borno State Governor, Prof Babagana Zulum, who conveyed assurances from the presidency concerning the protected rescue of the scholars.

Since then, nevertheless, the households say they’ve been met with deafening silence from each state and federal authorities, with no updates on rescue efforts or negotiations with the abductors.

“We were told that Governor Zulum met the President last Friday and addressed newsmen shortly after the meeting. Today is Sunday, yet no single security brass has been sent to the community or to us for intelligence gathering or rescue operations,” mentioned a mother or father, Daniel Gabriel.

‘Abuja trip still on the card’

Despite the short-term setback concerning the Abuja journey, the parents stay resolute, vowing to storm the Presidential Villa as quickly as sources allow.

“We are determined to remain there until we are granted an audience, regardless of the number of days and the difficulties,” mentioned a mom, Josephine Fadi.

Last Friday, Governor Zulum, whereas responding to newsmen on the Presidential Villa, Abuja, mentioned he met with the president and raised particular issues over the kidnapping of the college kids in Mussa and Lassa.

He mentioned the president responded positively and guaranteed that the Nigerian Army, State Security Service, and Office of National Security Adviser would intensify efforts to rescue the youngsters.

End ‘silence’ on captivity, HURIWA tells Tinubu

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has issued a name to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, demanding quick and decisive motion to safe the discharge of roughly 80 schoolchildren and lecturers who’ve reportedly been held captive by terrorists in Borno State for practically six months.

In an announcement launched on Sunday by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko, the outstanding civil rights organisation criticised the federal authorities’s dealing with of the state of affairs, stating that the extended silence and captivity of the victims are unacceptable.

HURIWA emphasised that President Tinubu, because the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, carries a supreme authorized, constitutional, and ethical obligation to make sure the protected return of the youngsters. The group asserted that residents ought to by no means should beg their authorities for fundamental safety and the defence of their basic proper to life.

The extended ordeal has plunged the affected households into profound misery.