According to Peter, the Federal government has stopped the girls from speaking about their experience. He says this suggests that there is something the Federal government is hiding. Although the Federal government had previously stated that the girls are being kept away for full de-radicalization and total re-integration, reorientation and rehabilitation.
“It was a great honor and privilege when we heard that our sister was released last October but we are not very much impressed with the way the government is handling the whole rehabilitation process. Since my niece’s release, I have met her just once when I traveled down to Chibok last December. We are not even aware of how the rehabilitation process is going on. Nobody is allowed to see them. It is like another imprisonment.
“I think the Women Affairs minister is not saying the truth about this. What does she mean by the girls can leave at anytime they want when they don’t even allow family members or people that are concerned about them to come close to them? I wish she was here so that I would be able to ask her some questions personally because this thing has been bothering us the members of the family. The fact still remains that the Nigerian government needs to be open to the family members; they need to be open to everyone that is concerned. We don’t get it. I mean, are you trying to hide something? Is there something they don’t want us to hear from the girls? What are they hiding from us?”
“I think there is something that the Federal Government does not want us to know. The fact that the girls are popular doesn’t mean that their family cannot see them. No matter how popular you are, without your family I don’t think your popularity makes any sense. My heart is telling me that there is something the government doesn’t want everybody to know. Even when they went to Chbok, they were not allowed to go to their houses.
They were kept in government facilities in Chibok and anyone who visited them was made to sign a register, state the village where they came from, whom they wanted to see and then a time limit was given, after which you were asked to leave and there were certain things that you were not allowed to ask the girls. You can’t ask them about their experiences in Sambisa Forest. I mean, we don’t get it. Even now that 82 girls have been rescued, what has the government done about them? Up till today, the families have not met the girls.”
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