President Jonathan's Meeting with Chibok Parents Cancelled

President Goodluck Jonathan's proposed meeting with the parents of the kidnapped schoolgirls and five of the escapees has been cancelled. And President Jonathan has accused the #BringBackOurGirls activists for it.

Mr Jonathan had been due to hold his first meeting with some of the girls' parents on Tuesday following an appeal by Pakistani rights campaigner Malala Yousafzai. He had planned to meet 12 parents and five girls who escaped shortly after being captured but without giving any reason, the parents withdrew at the last minute. Reacting to that, the President said in a statement:

"Unfortunately, political forces within the Nigerian chapter of Bring Back Our Girls have decided to take this opportunity to play politics with the situation and the grief of
the parents and the girls. They should be ashamed of their actions. Those who would manipulate the victims of terrorism for their own benefit are engaging in a similar kind of evil: Psychological terrorism," he added.  

Mr. Jonathan's spokesman Doyin Okupe said the president was "extremely distraught".

"He cannot understand this. He cannot fathom this - that Nigeria's mothers will do this type of thing for children," Mr Okupe said.

Meanwhile, explaining why the Chibok parents turned back, a source told TheCable that the Chibok community was already facing internal division over the planned visit.

“One, they think five girls and 12 parents cannot represent the community properly when 219 girls are still with Boko Haram and hundreds of parents are still in shock. Two, they said they did not send them to Abuja to meet with the president. They came for a different purpose. To now seize the opportunity to meet the president would be like playing a fast one on the community that sent them,” the source said.