President Muhammadu Buhari gestures at a meeting with the Kankara students on December 18, 2020, following their release by their captors.
CORRECTION (FACT-CHECK):
A fact-check by the international news agency, Agence France-Presse (AFP) has revealed that a purported commendation to the government of Nigeria on the release of the Kankara schoolboys did not come from the European Union but from a self-styled organization known as European Union Human Rights Forum (EUHRF) which has no relationship with the global body.
The European Union says the EUHRF is a ‘discredited’ NGO that does not exist in the EU family.
Meanwhile, the only known acknowledgment of the release of the boys to have come from a multinational global organization was from His Excellency Mr. Edward Kallon the UN Chief Representative in Nigeria on December 18, 2020, where he tweeted:
‘So delighted to receive the news of the return of the abducted Kankara schoolboys. Congratulations to the Gov’t of Nigeria for securing their release. I rejoice with the community and concerned families& call on the authorities to make schools safe for teaching and learning.”
The European Union Human Rights Forum (EUHRF) has commended President Mohammadu Buhari over what it describes as the swiftness deployed in the safe return of the 344 students of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State.
In a statement issued on Sunday by the Special Rapporteur, Lake Chad/West Africa, Joseph Cullen, the EU said the release is a deserving relief to see that everything ended without bloodshed.
“We commend President Buhari for the swiftness and efficiency with which the lads were rescued from their abductors. Such swiftness would have made all the difference had such occurred in 2015 when schoolgirls were similarly abducted from their school in Chibok, Borno State,” the statement partly said.
“It is commendable that critical time was not lost in returning the schoolboys back to their families. The abduction had sent shockwaves across the entire international community because of the similarities it shared with the kidnap of the schoolgirls in a secondary school in a town of Chibok in Borno State of Nigeria which took place on the night of Monday, the 14th day of April 2014 under the previous administration.
“EUHRF commends President Muhammadu Buhari and the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for this cheery outcome even as it is now apparent that measures must be implemented to ensure such actions do not occur in the first place.
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“This will ensure that the priority that President Buhari gives to matters pertaining to women and children continues to remain in place since these are vulnerable people that must be given extra protection in view of the complex security situations that Nigeria is having to deal with owing to an unhealthy mix of internal, external, state and non-state factors that Nigeria is contending with.”
SEE FULL STATEMENT HERE:
EU Commends President Buhari on the release of abducted students
The European Union Human Rights Forum (EUHRF) has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for the release and safe return of the 344 students of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State.
The European Union in a statement by Joseph Cullen, Special Rapporteur, Lake Chad, West Africa, said the release of the students is a deserving relief to see that everything ended without bloodshed.
According to Cullen, measures must be put in place to ensure that such actions do not repeat itself again.
”The abduction had sent shockwaves across the entire international community because of the similarities it shared with the kidnap of the schoolgirls in a secondary school in a town of Chibok in Borno State of Nigeria which took place on the night of Monday, the 14th day of April 2014 under the previous administration.
”EUHRF commends President Muhammadu Buhari and the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for this cheery outcome even as it is now apparent that measures must be implemented to ensure such actions do not occur in the first place. This will ensure that the priority that President Buhari gives to matters pertaining to women and children continues to remain in place since these are vulnerable people that must be given extra protection in view of the complex security situations that Nigeria is having to deal with owing to an unhealthy mix of internal, external, state and non-state factors that Nigeria is contending with.
”We commend President Buhari for the swiftness and efficiency with which the lads were rescued from their abductors. Such swiftness would have made all the difference had such occurred in 2015 when schoolgirls were similarly abducted from their school in Chibok, Borno state. It is commendable that critical time was not lost in returning the schoolboys back to their families.
”EUHRF’s one major concern from the entire incidence is the tenacity with which some key players wanted to chalk up the abduction as a credit to Boko Haram, which had criminally claimed credit for the development that it knows nothing about. This goes to confirm the concerns that some indigenous groups had expressed in the past that there is much political coloration to the security breaches in Nigeria”, the organisation said in a statement.
Cullen said the EUHRF is committed to lending support in any way possible for the government to deal with terrorist propaganda that encourages those with criminal intentions to commit this kind of act.
The organisation expressed shock that as a result Nigeria was able to achieve in dealing with the situation before external support could be factored in.
EUHRF further commended other stakeholders in Nigeria who made the feat possible.
”The outcome could not have been possible without President Buhari providing the needed leadership but the collaborative inputs of the other layers of the government are remarkable. We, therefore, commend the Governor of Katsina State, Aminu Bello Masari, and the Nigerian Army for their valiant and cooperative efforts towards ensuring the release of the schoolboys.
”It is imperative that Nigeria now gets similar support from governments of the world in order to deal with a problem that has manifested its spread across national boundaries. The evil menace of insurgency that the abductions were meant to feed must be urgently addressed by stakeholder-nations so that those who plot to gain from this kind of criminal enterprise would know that they have no future.”
