Eleven parents of the more than 200 schoolgirls abducted from Chibok, Borno State, have reportedly died. The girls were taken away from their dormitory by Boko Haram terrorists in the night of Monday, April 14.

Seven fathers of the kidnapped girls were among 51 bodies brought to Chibok hospital after an attack on the nearby village of Kautakari this month, a health worker told the AP news agency.

At least four more parents have died of heart failure, high blood pressure and other illnesses that the community blames on trauma due to the mass abduction 100 days ago, community leader, Pogu Bitrus, who provided their names, told the news agency.

“One father of two of the girls kidnapped just went into a kind of coma and kept repeating the names of his daughters, until life left him,” Bitrus said.

President Goodluck Jonathan had yesterday finally met with a 177-member delegation from Chibok over the abduction dilemma.

Among the President’s guests were 51 girls who had escaped from captivity and some of the victims’ parents. Also on the entourage were community leaders, principal of the Government Girls Secondary School (GGSS), Chibok, from where the girls were abducted and some local government officials.

The girls arrived at the Presidential Villa 10:30 a.m. for the 11:00 a.m. event in a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) high capacity mass transit bus while the others followed behind in three other buses.

The President arrived the State House Banquet Hall, venue of the meeting, at 11:10 a.m. along with Senate President, David Mark; National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki; and Chief of Staff, Jones Arogbofa.

Journalists were asked to leave the meeting just as opening prayers were being said.

An earlier scheduled meeting between the President, the girls and their parents was aborted last week.

Jonathan at the meeting disclosed that he will visit Chibok, Borno State, only when the abducted schoolgirls are freed. This was disclosed in a statement later issued by his spokesman Reuben Abati, who said his boss reassured the Chibok community that his administration is doing everything humanly possible to rescue the abducted girls.

President Jonathan appealed for their patience, understanding and cooperation, according to Abati. He quoted him as saying during the meeting: “Anyone who gives you the impression that we are aloof and that we are not doing what we are supposed to do to get the girls out is not being truthful.

“Our commitment is not just to get the girls out, it is also to rout Boko Haram completely from Nigeria. But we are very, very mindful of the safety of the girls. We want to return them all alive to their parents. If they are killed in any rescue effort, then we have achieved nothing.”

The President said that although he was yet to visit Chibok in the aftermath of the abductions, his heart was constantly with its traumatised parents and people, and his desire was to visit them when their daughters have been freed and they can receive him with smiling faces of joy, rather than with tears of anguish.

Abati quoted him as saying: “Our duty now is to take all relevant steps to recover our girls alive and our primary interest is getting them out as safely as possible. I will not want to say much, but we are doing everything humanly possible to get the girls out.

“This not the time for talking much. This is the time for action. We will get to the time that we will tell stories. We will get to the time that we will celebrate and I assure you that, by God’s grace, that time will come soon.”

Responding to appeals from the community leaders for more help in overcoming some of the challenges imposed on Chibok and neighbouring communities by the Boko Haram insurgency, the President said that the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and Federal Medical Agencies will intensify their efforts to provide them with additional relief aid and assistance.

He also assured them that Chibok and other communities in the three North-Eastern States most affected by the Boko Haram insurgency will be the first beneficiaries of the Victims’ Support Fund, the Presidential Initiative for the North-East, the Safe Schools Initiative and other developmental programmes which the Federal Government is evolving to address the damage, losses, setbacks, economic and social dislocations occasioned by the Boko Haram insurgency.

“We solicit your maximum cooperation. Let us work together. Evil can never overcome good. We will surely overcome Boko Haram,” he told them.

The meeting which was also attended by Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State, Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State and the Senate President, Senator David Mark.

Also at the meeting were Governors Ibrahim Shettima (Borno) and Isa Yuguda (Bauchi); Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Education Minister; Ibrahim Shekarau; and Information Minister, Labaran Maku.

In his remarks at the meeting, Governor Shettima called for more sobriety, reflection and unity of purpose in the fight against terrorism in the country.

He pledged that his state will give President Jonathan the fullest possible support for his efforts to address the problems caused by terrorism and the Boko Haram insurgency.

Dr. Pogu Bitrus presented the Chibok community’s address to the President.

Other speakers at the meeting included a district head, Mr. Zannamadu Usman, a member of the Borno State House of Assembly, Hon. Aminu Foni Chibok, parents of the abducted girls and three of the girls who escaped from their captors, Godia Simon, Dorcas Musa and Joy Bishara.

•Photo shows President Jonathan with some of the parents of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls ... yesterday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

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