Northern elders kidnapped Chibok school girls to embarrass Jonathan – Group

As Nigerian army continues to comb Borno forests in search of the female students abducted recently by Boko Haram sect, a group on Monday accused some northern elders of being the brain behind the incident.

The group, under the umbrella of United Alliance, in a statement by its northern co-ordinator, Bashir Ado, accused some northern elders of using the abduction to distract and embarrass President Goodluck Jonathan.

Speaking ahead of the protest, which is slated for Wednesday by women in the Federal Capital Territory over the kidnap of the Chibok girls, Ado said the protesters should not direct their grievance at the President, saying Jonathan has nothing to do with the incident.

He said, "The disappearance of the girls is part of the Northern elders agenda to embarrass and distract the Goodluck Jonathan government.

"They deliberately took the girls away to create an impression of insecurity and paint the picture that nobody is safe in the country, whereas they are the architect of these self- inflicting wounds aimed at distracting the government"

Ado also called on the federal government to question the school authorities for defying an earlier order by the Federal Government that schools in the area be temporarily shutdown.

It said the school authorities "deliberately ignored government's directive."

The group said, "There was an initial instruction to school authorities in the area to evacuate students from schools because of insecurity and the parents were aware of this. Why then would the authorities of the school refuse to yield to such sensitive instruction if there was no pre-conceived agenda to lash on the perceived state of insecurity to organise the kidnap of their own children and put the blame at the doorstep of the Federal Government.

"The co-ordinated media interviews the mothers of the alleged missing girls have been granting showed that a script is being acted.

"It is high time our leaders in the North come to terms with the reality that this self inflicting havoc will continue to deplete the value of Northerners and eventually deprive us of our place in the Nigerian nation," he added.