President Goodluck Jonathan’s alleged N100 million cash gift offered to parents of the abducted Chibok girls by after a meeting at the Presidential villa on July 22 has sparked disagreement between some of the parents and leaders of the Chibok community in Abuja.
A BBC Hausa service report indicates that the presidency allegedly released the funds to leaders of the Chibok community in Abuja for onward passage to parents of the kidnapped schoolgirls but some of the parents are now alleging they were shortchanged by the community leaders.
One parent, who was among those who visited the president, told BBC’s Abdu Halilu that he got only N200,000. “I got only N200,000 out of the said N100million allegedly received by our leaders in Abuja. Some of us got N300,000 and some less than that,” he said.
He also said that he was not comfortable with the way the money was shared among the parents of the kidnapped girls and that he was shortchanged.
“Our leaders in Abuja are using the girls to enrich themselves. In fact, some of the parents were screened out of the entourage by the Chibok leaders in Abuja. Many of them are residents of Abuja, not parents of the kidnapped girls,” he said.
Another parent, who was screened out of the delegation that visited the president, said he got only N7,000 out of the money shared. “I was at the farm when they brought the N7, 000 to my house and I collected it. Some of us got even less, N300 and below,” he said.
The parents stressed that they were not selling their daughters and that the money from the President just came to them without their asking for or expecting it.
One of the community leaders, Pobu Bitrus, who is also a member of the House of Representatives, was at the meeting with the president and he explained to the BBC that after meeting with the president, monies were distributed to the parents in envelopes.
“After we met with the presidency, the parents were given monies in envelopes and that’s all. All other things they are saying about N100million, I don’t know about that,” Bitrus said.
The meeting between President Jonathan and parents of the Chibok girls came three months after the girls were abducted from theoir schools by the Boko Haram sect and on the prompting of the Pakistani teenager who champions the cause of girl child education, Malala Yusoufai.
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