The Africa Support and Empowerment Initiative, AFRISEI, has dismissed the allegations raised by the Bring Back Our Girls, BBOG, group, after the advocacy group dissociated itself from a fund-raising event organized by the President of AFRISEI, Hadiza Buhari-Bello, who is President Muhammadu Buhari’s daughter.
The event tagged: ‘Official Inauguration and Signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the Chibok Girls Endowment Project’, took place at the Peace Corps of Nigeria premises, Abuja, on Monday with the BBOG inscription on the backdrop.
The BBOG, in statement jointly signed by its leader, Oby Ezekwesili and co-convener, Aisha Yesufu, distanced itself from the event, demanding an immediate retraction and unreserved apology from the organisers of the event.
The BBOG also urged the general public to disregard attempts at linking the group to the event.
But AFRISEI while reacting to BBOG’s statement, said it did not need to lean on the BBOG to be of service to the Chibok Girls.
In a statement co-signed by the President’s daughter, AFRISEI maintained that they had no reason to steal anything from BBOG or use its name to achieve any advantage.
The statement reads in part, “The Africa Support and Empowerment Initiative has its own defined objectives and that it didn’t need to steal anybody’s ideas to operate in line with its own objectives.
“AFRISEI is committed to educating the masses to discourage unhealthy practices such as child trafficking, child abuse, child labour and gender discrimination.
“Our organization has broader objectives beyond the Chibok girls although the activities of the BBOG raised and sustained awareness about the plight of the kidnapped 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.
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