A relative of one of the rescued Chibok girls, Peter Joseph has said that the Federal Government has barred the girls from sharing their experience under Boko Haram captivity with their parents.
Joseph said this on Al Jazeera’s programme, “The Stream”.
He claimed that his niece was one of the 21 schoolgirls rescued in October 2016, while his sister is still in Boko Haram captivity.
Joseph said in December last year, the girls were allowed to return to Chibok, but were kept in a government facility where their parents visited them.
“I think there is something that the Federal Government does not want us to know and that is why they are keeping them away.
“Even when they [the schoolgirls] travelled to Chibok, they were not allowed to go to their houses.
“They were kept in government facilities in Chibok and anyone who visited them was made to sign a register, state the village where they came from, whom they wanted to see and then a time limit was given, after which you were asked to leave and there were certain things that you were not allowed to ask the girls.
“You can’t ask them about their experiences in Sambisa Forest. I mean, we don’t get it. Even now that 82 girls have been rescued, what has the government done about them? Up till today, the families have not met the girls,” he said.
Joseph slammed the Minister of Women Affairs, Aisha Alhassan, for saying that the girls were free to leave the government facilities anytime they wanted.
“The Women Affairs minister is not saying the truth about this. What does she mean by the girls can leave at anytime when they don’t even allow family members or people that are concerned about them to come close to them?
“I wish she was here so that I would be able to ask her some questions personally because this thing has been bothering us the members of the family.
“The fact still remains that the Nigerian government needs to be open to the family members; the government needs to be open to everyone that is concerned.
“We don’t get it. I mean, are you trying to hide something? Is there something they don’t want us to hear from the girls? What are they hiding from us?” he added.
