ICC Note:
Police Commissioner Joseph Mbu has banned all protests demanding the safe return of the more than 240 schoolgirls for alleged security concerns. In a recent statement, Mbu said, “I cannot fold my hands and watch this lawlessness.” Boko Haram mass-kidnapped more than 240 school girls from Chibok’s Government Girls Secondary School on April 14, 2014. The girls have reportedly been ferried to camps in Niger and Chad, where some have been forcefully converted and sold into sexual and domestic slavery as child brides.
The Commissioner of Police in Abuja, Joseph Mbu, on Monday said protests demanding the rescue of over 250 girls kidnapped in Chibok, Borno State, pose a serious security threat.
Mr. Mbu, known to violently crack down on protesters including students and lecturers of higher institutions, announced the ban at a news conference in Abuja.
“Protests on the Chibok girls are hereby banned with immediate effect,” Mr. Mbu said.
He said information at his disposal indicates that “dangerous elements” are about to hijack the protest, citing the emergence of rival group, “Release Our Girls”, that attacked the members of the Abuja #BringBackOurGirls campaign, breaking bottles on their heads, and destroying cameras of journalists.
Mr. Mbu, whose officials watched while this happened, also did not condemn the actions of the Release Our Girls campaigners.
“Information reaching us is that too soon, dangerous elements will join groups under the guise of protest and detonate explosives aimed at embarrassing the government,’’ he said. “As the FCT police boss, I cannot fold my hands and watch this lawlessness.”
