Chibok girls: UN representative meets fact-finding committee

MAY 17, 2014 BY OLALEKAN ADETAYO, ABUJA 0 COMMENTS

The newly-appointed United Nations Secretary General’s Special Representative on the Abduction of the Chibok Schoolgirls, Ambassador Said Djinnit, on Saturday held consultations with the Presidential Fact-finding Committee on the Abduction.

A statement by the committee’s spokesman, Kingsley Osadolor, quoted Djinnit, who is also the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative (Political) for West Africa, as pledging the union’s support in the search and rescue of the schoolgirls kidnapped in Chibok, Borno State on April 14.

Osadolor said Djinnit told the committee that beyond the outrage and global condemnation of the abduction, the UN’s Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon, was interested in a support package to ensure the release of the schoolgirls, and to deal with the larger issues arising from the circumstances of the abduction.

“We care about Nigeria. We highly support the multi-dimensional approach of President Goodluck Jonathan in solving the problems in the North-East of the country.

“The people of Nigeria should be in full solidarity with the government in solving the current challenges,” the statement further quoted Djinnit, an Algerian, as saying.

He expressed happiness that the Federal Government co-opted the UN into the Presidential Fact-finding Committee.

The union is being represented by Mr. Daouda Toure, head of the UN agencies in Nigeria.

Responding, the committee’s Chairman, Brig-Gen. Ibrahim Sabo (retd.), informed the UN Special Representative that the Committee was neither a judicial nor administrative panel, but a fact-finding committee with clear terms of reference.

Sabo explained that the Committee has held a series of consultations with various contact persons, including security, defence, and intelligence agencies.

He welcomed the offer of the UN Special Representative to assist the Fact-finding Committee with the UN wide-ranging expertise and experience in fact-finding missions.