Chibok Schoolgirls: Mark leads 21 senators to meet Jonathan •Women defy rain, march over abduction

SENATE President David Mark, on Wednesday, said he would lead 21 other senators to confer with President Goodluck Jonathan over the abduction of schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State.
According to the Senate President, the meeting, which  would be held at 10.00 p.m. on Wednesday night, would afford the senators the opportunity to discuss the rising spate of insecurity  and insurgency with the president.

He named the senators to include Enyinnaya Abaribe; Mohammed Magoro; Boluwaji Kunlere, Babafemi Ojudu; Zainab Kure, Alkali Jajere; James Manager; Helen Esuene; Chris Anyanwu, Ali Ndume, Ahmed Zannah, Mai’na Ma’aji Lawan, Nenadi Usman; and Emmanuel Bwacha
Others, according to him, were Ahmed Lawan; Barnabas Gemade; Sola Adeyeye; Bindowo Jibrilla; Ehigie Uzamere; Bello Tukur and Bukar Abba Ibrahim  as participants at the meeting.
Women defy rain, march over abduction
It was a sight that sparked emotions in Abuja, on Wednesday, as protesters, mainly women, defied heavy downpour and wailed all the way as they marched across streets, demanding the release of the schoolgirls abducted in Chibok.
The protest, nicknamed “million-woman march,” was put together by the Women for Peace and Justice Organisation.
The protesters in their hundreds carried placards with various inscriptions and chanted various songs.
The protesters were joined by former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili and a human rights lawyer, Femi Falana.
They marched in the rain up to the National Assembly and beyond, alongside security personnel led by the FCT Police Commissioner, Joseph Mbu and were conspicuously drenched as they returned to Unity Fountain, from where they took off.
At the Unity Fountain, the protesters expressed disappointment with the manner the government was handling the abduction saga and insisted that the government should, if necessary, negotiate with the abductors so as to secure the release of the students.
Mark, Tambuwal, Ihedioha defy rain to receive protesters
Senate President, Mark; Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, and the Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha, on Wednesday, defied the heavy downpour to receive a group of women who stormed the National Assembly to protest the abduction of schoolgirls.
Some senators and members of the House of Representatives also joined the presiding officers to give hope to the protesting women, who expressed their frustrations, crying uncontrollably.
Senator Mark, while addressing the women, said that hearts of every lawmaker were with the people of Chibok in their grief.
“We are drenched. Totally soaked in the rain. It is better to be beaten by the rain and get our children freed from their captors. If it means standing in the rain until the girls are freed, we are prepared to do so,” he said.
PDP calls for  identity of victims
The ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on Wednesday, called on  the authorities of the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, where the 234  female students were kidnapped by suspected members  of the Boko Haram sect, to release the names and pictures of the victims without further delay.
The party made the demand through its women leader, Dr Kema Chikwe, during a prayer session held at its  national secretariat, on Wednesday.
According to the former Minister of Aviation, “let the truth be told with God’s intervention. Our hearts are bleeding, not just broken, please God, send the Chibok girls home to their mothers and families. We plead with the school authorities to release their names and their pictures. Let God touch the hearts of those who know and have perpetrated this heinous action.”
Dr Chikwe, who lashed out at the members of the  Boko Haram sect for claiming many innocent  lives,  said “there are many questions to be asked and many more to be answered. How did it happen? Who saw it happen?  Who is behind this? Those behind these crimes love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.”
According to her “we will pray for miraculous revelations and solutions to this issue. We have convened this prayer session to bare our hearts  to God as Christians and Muslims. We shall make a way in our hearts for God to come in and settle, as we are contact points of our party members and all Nigerian women.”
Earlier, the chairman of the prayer session. Senator Helen Esuene, pointed out that “women are noted to stand for peace whenever there is a breach of peace. We are home builders, we carried kids for nine months and we know it is not an easy path. When something happens to our children, it rips the heart of every woman.”
The women later  visited the  National Hospital, Maitama District Hospital, Asokoro District Hospital and the  Nyanya General Hospital to sympathise with the victims of the Nyanya motor park bomb blast.
We’ll release names, pictures if DHQs approves –Borno govt
Special Adviser to Borno State governor, Isa Gusau, reacting to call by Chikwe, said the state government had a comprehensive data that included pictures of the missing students and those that returned, adding that it would publish it tomorrow if the Defence Headquarters gave the approval.
This was as he condemned Chikwe for her comments on the abducted schoolgirls.
He said it was shocking for Chikwe to raise doubts on whether the schoolgirls were abducted or not, adding that “this is a clear case of bringing politics into a serious national issue.”
According to him, by her remark, Chikwe had undermined the integrity of all of Nigeria’s security forces, because her questions appeared to mean that the security agencies in the country did not know what they were doing.
Senator raises alarm over Boko Haram in Taraba
The senator  representing Taraba South senatorial district, Senator Emmanuel Bwacha,  on Wednesday,  raised the alarm that suspected terrorists were setting up a base in the state.
The senator, who stated this on the Senate floor, disclosed that a strange helicopter had been dropping strange armed personnel and equipment in Dakar area of the state.
He asked the Federal Government  and the military to take urgent action, so as not to allow the insurgents overrun the state.
“I want to say that our attention has been drawn to suspicious movements and activities around Dakar in Taraba State and it is believed also that a helicopter is dropping materials and personnel around the place.
“We fear that this may be another Sambisa in the making in Taraba State. I recall that sometimes in December, our colleague, Senator Alkali Jajare, drew our attention to the fact that what is happening in Yobe and Borno states could spread to other states of the federation, not only in the North-East.
“What has happened in my constituency appears to be a confirmation of what our colleague had drawn our attention to,” Bwacha said.
He also said the Taraba State House of Assembly recently passed a resolution which indicated that the state lacked the capacity to handle or contain the emerging crisis.
“As I speak now, there is a very reasonable presence of military in my constituency. We appreciate the Nigerian military and, of course,  the Nigerian Police who did their best, because we were able to access them and they responded immediately.
“I  will appeal to Mr President that a barracks be establish in this same flash point, Wukari in particular, so that this may go a long way to safeguard lives and property.”
Abduction, an abomination -Speakers’ Conference
Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria, on Wednesday, lent its voice to the condemnation of the abduction of schoolgirls in Borno State.