The Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) campaign group has accused some people of using its name to fraudulently raise funds for the 21 Chibok girls released by Boko Haram last week.
It was reacting to the alleged meeting of BBOG and stakeholders in Abuja, where a cheque for N3.5 million was handed over to President Muhammadu Buhari’s daughter and President of Africa Support and Empowerment Initiative (AFRISEI), Hadiza Buhari-Bello, by the Commandant of Peace Corps, Dickson Akoh, as contribution to the general welfare and basic needs of the girls.
The group, in a statement on Monday, said, “we stumbled upon information of an event tagged Official Inauguration and Signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the Chibok Girls Endowment Project organised by the Peace Corps of Nigeria and Africa Support and Empowerment Initiative.
“We are shocked, perplexed and completely dumbfounded to see the bold inscription of our hard-earned name, #BringBackOurGirls, on the event’s backdrop.”
The statement, jointly signed by the its leaders, Aisha Yesufu and Oby Ezekwesili, said it wasn’t a party to the event and had no information about it.
“We urge the general public to disregard attempts at linking our movement to this highly suspicious event,” said the group which has been at the fore-front of the campaign for the release of the over 200 Chibok school girls abducted by the Boko Haram terrorists in 2014.
The group, which demanded a retraction and an apology from the organisers of the event, said it has contacted its lawyers, Femi Falana & Co, over the incident. It advised law enforcement agents and the public to be on the look-out for people who may be planning similar activities to deceive local and international communities.
“After 902 days of painstaking advocacy, it is disheartening and unfortunate to suddenly see attempts, by external actors, to use it for selfish purposes. We have carefully built our reputation as a well-organized and disciplined global movement that is completely self-funded.
“The deliberate decision, to remain funded by sacrificial contributions of members for our very negligible needs, is the reason we are solely a Citizens’ Movement, and not an NGO. It will be highly injurious to allow it be dragged in the mud at this point.”
