Child Rights group berates Aisha Buhari’s silence over kidnap of schoolchildren in Zamfara, others

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An Abuja-based Forum For Child Rights Promotion (FORCHI) has expressed shock that the First lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Aisha Buhari has remained silent in the face of the sustained terror attacks targeting school children in Zamfara, Katsina, and the Niger States by armed Fulani militia.

The Child Rights group said the wife of the President is needed at this material time to speak up for the respect and protection of the human rights of school children particularly as she is the mother of the nation.

According to the group, wives of political office holders in the country have frontline roles to play to ensure that their spouses who control the different layers of political powers are encouraged, motivated, and challenged to adopt every practical methodology to get the security forces all across the country to act decisively to provide efficient security of students.

In a statement signed in Abuja by the National Leader, Mrs. Stacey Ukaobasi Onwuegbuchulam, FORCHI reiterated that the imperative of securing the territorial integrity of the Nigerian school system is no longer in doubt while expressing fear that should the violence targeting schools be allowed to continue, the constitutional mandate obliging the Nigerian State in section 18 (1) of the Nigerian Constitution to direct its policy towards ensuring that there are equal and adequate educational opportunities at all levels, will be undermined.

“FORCHI is by this statement publicly urging Mrs. Aisha Buhari to bring together the wives of the governors of all the 36 states and the nation’s capital of Abuja and wives of Federal and State legislators to put pressures on their spouses to adopt law based anti-terror mechanisms to implement sustainable, durable and result-oriented initiatives to keep students safe from all terror attacks.

“Government shall promote science and technology; 18 (3) Government shall strive to eradicate illiteracy, and to this end, the government shall provide free and quality education.”

“Importantly, FORCHI believes that allowing terror attacks in schools amounts to abandonment by government of the fundamental objective for which the public office holders were elected which is to protect lives and property of the citizenry (section 14 (2) (b).”

The Rights group added that the different levels of government must demonstrate an elevated level of commitment towards actualizing these constitutional objectives in such a way that the safety of the students is guaranteed.

The group, therefore, urged the United Nations (UN) to wade in and ensure that the Nigerian government protects students and punishes terrorists.