Akwa Ibom Governor, Mr Godswill Akpabio on Wednesday, May 7, 2014 was a guest on Sunrise Daily, Channels Television’s daily breakfast show in Abuja where he spoke about the abducted Chibok girls.
The governor urged Nigerian parents not to sleep well until the girls are found and brought back home.
“I have four girls in my family; so you can imagine that I am not sleeping well and I don’t expect any Nigerian parent to sleep well until those girls are back”, he said.
Akpabio alleged that reports in the media shaped the broadcast by Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau. He said statements made by the sect leader tallied with what local media had been reporting for weeks.
“For instance we have somebody who said the girls have been sold for N2, 000 and all of a sudden the main man (Shekau) came out on CNN and YouTube and said I am going to sell your girls” urging Nigerians to “drop a little bit of politics and propaganda” because “it is a situation that touches all families”, he said.
He blamed the situation on Nigeria’s “enemies who are out to embarrass the Nigerian government and people” and called for “international collaboration” to solve the crisis before it gets to neighbouring countries like Niger, Cameroon, Chad and Burkina Faso.
Akpabio commended the federal government for accepting international assistance in finding the abducted girls, noting that “it is not easy as the Giant of Africa for us to accept that we have a big problem and we need the assistance of major powers”.
“It shows humility on the part of the president that it is time for us to accept any assistance from anywhere and it shows serious concern that wherever the help comes from, we must just focus and first rescue our girls and then politics can come in later”, the governor said.
