President
Goodluck Jonathan told the United Nations General Assembly that it had been
"over three months” since the Chibok girls were abducted when they were in
fact abducted over five months ago.
President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday,
September 24, 2014 presented Nigeria's annual statement to the United Nations General Assembly
in New York.
The
president addressed pertinent issues such as the insecurity in the country, the
missing Chibok
girls and the Ebola
outbreak.
However,
Jonathan said that the girls were kidnapped "over three months ago"
when they were in fact abducted on April 14, 2014, more than five months ago.
According
to Reuben Abati,
the president’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Jonathan said:
"Today's terrorism is vicious and aimless. Its
consequences are extremely agonizing, marked by a tendency to annihilate
victims, and completely destroy infrastructure and properties.
The involvement of foreign fighters has remained a common
feature of terrorist groups - whether Al Qaeda in the Maghreb, Al Shaabab in
Somalia, Boko Haram in Nigeria, or the newly emerging Islamic State
(I.S).
This refocuses attention on the need to review present
tools for United Nations peacekeeping operations,"
The
president also told the assembly that the federal government would do
everything possible to ensure that the Chibok girls are rescued and Boko Haram
is stopped.
He
continued:
"I would like to take this opportunity to thank all
the countries and organizations that expressed solidarity with us, and have
continued to support our determined efforts to free our daughters.
"Although it has been over three months since they
were abducted, we have never relented in our efforts to set them safely free.
Together with our partners, we are working assiduously to free our daughters
and reunite them with their families.
"Let me underline today, that we shall not waiver
until we end this mindless war on the innocent, and bring all the perpetrators
to justice. We will triumph over terrorism,"
On
Ebola, he said:
"While Nigeria was able to respond effectively to
control the spread of the disease, the situation in Liberia and Sierra Leone
requires sustainable, collective global action to contain.”
“Through the concerted efforts of our health care
professionals, the World Health Organisation and our international partners, we
have been able to contain the EVD and we can confidently say that Nigeria is
today, Ebola-free.”
The
Chibok girls were said to have been rescued on Tuesday, September 23 but the reports were
denied by the Nigerian Defence headquarters after an earlier alleged
confirmation.
The
2014 UN General Assembly convened on September 16 and is expected to run till
October 1 2014. President Jonathan is however expected back in Nigeria today,
September 25.
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