Chibok girls: NLC women urge boycott of 2015 elections

The National Women Commission of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has vowed to mobilise women across the country to boycott the 2015 general elections should the Federal Government fail to rescue the abducted Chibok schoolgirls.

It would be recalled that since the over 200 girls were forcefully abducted from their dormitory by the insurgent group, Boko Haram, all efforts to rescue them have met brickwall.

Chairperson of the commission, Comrade Lucy Offiong, who made the statement on Wednesday, during a two-day NLC State Women Leadership Training, rued the state of the abducted girls, stressing that they would have been seriously violated by their abductors.

She said it was regrettable that rather than doing anything within its fold to ensure that the girls are rescued, government was busy preparing for election.

In demonstration of their concern as mothers, Offiong urged all women to use their voting rights to insist on the release of the girls, failure of which they should all boycott all elections stated for 2015.

She said: The abducted schoolgirls are potential workers and members of this commission. We are very concern about it. We are going to come up with a communiqué with all the women that are gathered here for the conference. We are going to draw from their personal experiences, especially those from the troubled northeast zone.

“I regret to say that it has been so politicised and government has not done what we expect as women. These girls would have been seriously exposed to all forms of inhuman treatments. They must have been so violated.

“We are not even sure about their state, whether they are still alive or not. But since government keeps assuring us these girls are still alive, it must shun politics and do everything possible to rescue them.

“I want to say that if Nigerian women can rise just as we are going to rise from this our conference and push that until those girls are brought back, there should be no election in this country.

“It is a serious matter, a sovereign state like Nigeria losing territories to insurgents and government is merely interested in election. I think we are in a war situation; I think election should be put on hold until the country is returned to normalcy.”
Source: Daily Independent