Hadiza Buhari-Bello, daughters of President Muhammadu Buhari, has faulted a statement credited to a former Minister of Education and originator of Bring Back Our Girls campaign, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, that she (Hadiza) is using her Africa Support and Empowerment Initiative to infringe on the franchise of Bring Back Our Girls group.
In a statement she jointly signed with AFRISEI Secretary, Don Uche, on Friday, Hadiza said her organisation was a responsible body that would never engage in illegal activities by stealing someone else’s franchise.
She explained that contrary to Ezekwesili’s allegation, her organisation did not need to lean on the BBOG to be of service to the Chibok Girls and therefore had no reason “to steal anything from BBOG or use its name to achieve any advantage.”
The President’s daughter explained that her organisation has its own defined objectives and that it didn’t need to steal anybody’s ideas to operate in line with its own objectives.
She said the organisation was duly registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission and issued certificate of incorporation on July 14, 2016.
Hadiza praised the activities of the BBOG to raise and sustain awareness about the plight of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls, but said her organisation had broader objectives beyond the Chibok girls.
She said though the Chibok girls were within the priority of their organisation, its commitments to humanitarian causes did not end with Chibok schoolgirls.
“Given the size of the problem at hand, the more organisations we have assisting Chibok and other devastated communities, the better for the country,” she said.
She added that AFRISEI is committed to empowering the youth and the less privileged in the area of job creation and skill acquisition.
She said there was no law that prevents the organisation from assisting the Chibok schoolgirls, adding that, as a charity organisation, they offer help to people in distress, including the Chibok girls and other Boko Haram victims.
So the big question here is – should a charity organization be operating as a business structure in which the ultimate goal is to make profits as opposed to bettering the lives of the under-privilgeded?
According to media reports, Hadiza had on Monday in Abuja through her AFRISEI NGO, used the popular BBOG name of the group to raise millions.
It was learnt that the Peace Corps of Nigeria donated N3.5m at the endowment fund.
Dr. Oby Ezekwesili,
Reacting to the unfolding events, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili and Aisha Yesufu in a statement said the organisers of the event were trying to smear its hard-earned name.
“Following repeated enquiries from the media, we stumbled upon information of an event tagged ‘Official Inauguration and Signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the Chibok Girls Endowment Project’ organised by the
‘Peace Corps of Nigeria’ and ‘Africa Support and Empowerment Initiative,’ with Hadiza Buhari-Bello,” the statement read.
“We are shocked, perplexed and completely dumbfounded to see the bold inscription of our hard-earned name, #BringBackOurGirls, on the event’s backdrop. We state categorically that we are not party to the said event and have absolutely no information of its origin. We urge the general public to disregard attempts at linking our movement to this highly suspicious event.
After 902 days of painstaking advocacy, it is disheartening and unfortunate to suddenly see attempts, by external actors, to use it for selfish purposes. We have carefully built our reputation as a well-organised and disciplined global movement that is completely self-funded.
“The deliberate decision, to remain funded by sacrificial contributions of members for our very negligible needs, is the reason we are solely a Citizens’ Movement, and not an NGO. It will be highly injurious to allow it be dragged in the mud at this point. We therefore demand an immediate retraction and unreserved apology from the organisers.
“Together with our lawyers, Femi Falana & Co., we are considering a response to this attempt to smear our movement. We call on the general public and law enforcement agencies to be on the lookout for unscrupulous persons who may already be/are planning similar nefarious acts to deceive the local and international community.”
But according to reports in the TheCable newspaper, national secretary of the AFRISEI NGO, Onwuka Don Uche, said that efforts were made to bring members of the BBOG group onboard but failed at every turn.
“I tried to contact members of the group, but I couldn’t reach any of them,” he said.
“I dropped a message for Oby Ezekwesili on Twitter, but there was no response. We will reach out to group. It is purely a fund for the Chibok girls, and we want to make BBOG a signatory to the account.”
