met those campaigning for the release of more than 200
girls abducted by Islamist Boko Haram militants last year.
His predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, declined to meet the
Bring Back Our Girls activists.
Buhari promised them that troops for a regional force to
fight the militants would be in place by the end of July. The
kidnap of the girls from a school in Chibok sparked global
outrage.
The president also regretted that Nigerian army known for
its military finesse in the sub African region has been unable
to rout out the Boko haram in Nigeria.
The President hosted a delegation of 'Bring Back Our Girls'
led by Dr. Oby Ezekwesili and Mrs. Mariam Uwaise at the
presidential Villa in furtherance of their campaign for the
release of over 200 abducted Chibok girls from Borno State.
Responding to the 13 points demand by the group, President
Buhari regretted what he described as the conflicting reports
of the terrorist attacks, saying that the delayed response by
the former government encouraged the escalated attacks
and promised to rebuild the ravaged communities
Got The mass abduction sparked one of the biggest social
media campaigns of 2014, with the Twitter hashtag
#BringBackOurGirls being used more than five million times.
Boko Haram has stepped up attacks since Mr Buhari took
office in May vowing to tackle the insurgency "head on".
The Nigerian military has said it has arrested "the
mastermind" behind two recent attacks on the northern
towns of Jos and Zaria in which almost 70 people were
killed.
Addressing members of the Bring Back Our Girls campaign
group and the media, the president said that the government
was doing all it could to tackle insecurity, but did not refer
directly to the 219 Chibok girls abducted in April 2014.
Earlier, the activists had marched through the capital, Abuja,
on their way meet Mr Buhari at his official residence.
One of the founders of the Bring Back Our Girls campaign
group told the BBC that "there was no time left" for the
government to act.
"The rescue of the Chibok girls would be the strongest
statement this government could make for having respect
for the sanctity and dignity of every Nigerian life," said Oby
Ezekwesili.
In his speech, Mr Buhari spoke of the "paradox" of Nigeria
asking its neighbours for help, despite itself providing help
to so many other countries in the past.
"How the mighty have fallen," he said.
The president criticised the previous government's
"incompetence" in dealing with the kidnapping and the
broader Boko Haram insurgency.
Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin are all expected
to provide troops for the 7,500-strong regional task force to
tackle Boko Haram.
The force will be led by Nigeria but have its headquarters in
the Chadian capital, N'Djamena.
The Chibok schoolgirls have not been seen since last May
when Boko Haram released a video of around 130 of them
gathered together reciting the Koran.
President Buhari gave a detailed account of the efforts to
end insurgency in Nigeria and assured the country
that there's no lost hope.
“I think you will agree that the present government
take the issue very seriously. Within a week of being
sworn in, I visited Niger, Chad and would have
visited Cameroon but for the invitation of the G7 to
go to Germany and listen to them. I’m very
impressed with the leadership of this important
group (G7) other than the United Nations itself. They
are very concerned about the security in Nigeria led
by abduction of the Chibok girls by the terrorists.
“When the terrorists announced their loyalty to ISIS,
the whole attention again was brought squarely to
Nigeria. And now we are rated with Afghanistan, Iraq
and Syria , this is very unfortunate.
“After Ramadan, I will visit Cameroon to see the
President there and then Benin Republic. But on the
efforts we have been making, we will not disclose
some of them publicly because it will not be
consistent with security. But I assure you that under
the Lake Chad Basin Commission, the military have
met. The ministers of defence have met. We the
presidents have met here in Abuja except the
President of Cameroon who was represented by his
Minister of Defence.
“Strategy and tactics have been drawn. Multinational
taskforce has been put in place more or less with
headquarters in Ndjamina with a Nigerian General as
Commander. The troops delegated by each of the
countries are to be put in place by the end of the
month. And Nigeria, I assure you will do its best
because we as I said are the battle ground and we
are being helped by our neighbors”, he said.
“It is paradoxical what the Nigerian military has
achieved from Burma to Zaire to Liberia to Sierra
Leon to Sudan. But Nigeria has now to be helped by
Niger, Chad, and Cameroon. How are the mighty
fallen!
“We will do our best to restore the respectability of
our country and its institutions. And with you, your
steadfastness and your seriousness, we will do what
we can do. We will accommodate all your
observations including the negative ones about the
performance of the government and its agencies”, he
said
“At the G7, the leadership there asked us for our
shopping list which I’m still compiling. The military
has submitted theirs and I’m waiting for the
governments of the front line states to submit theirs
local government by local government in terms of
infrastructure, schools, health care, roads, markets,
churches, mosques and so on.”
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