Bring back our daughters - Parents of abducted Dapchi schoolgirls tell FG during sorrowful protest at NASS

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Headlines from major mainstream newspapers today, Friday, March 9, are mostly focused on calls by Mrs Aisha Buhari and the UN scribe for the release of the Dapchi girls; sorrowful tales from the girls’ parents; the charge by the National Assembly to the president, urging him to order the IGP to enforce the Benue anti-open grazing law; Governor El-Rufai’s bashing of trade unions; and reports of a fresh crisis in the APC.

The Nation reports that parents of some of the abducted Dapchi schoolgirls took their plight to the National Assembly, where they staged a protest.

They reportedly wept as they urged the federal government to do everything within its power to bring back their daughters who were abducted by Boko Haram insurgents from the Government Girls Technical Science School, Dapchi, on February 19.

Among the parents was one Yahaya Taributu, whose three daughters were also abducted by the terrorists.

Taributu said laxity of security officials and incompetence created room for the abduction; as he wondered why troops were withdrawn from Dapchi 21 days before the abduction.

He stated: “Government should go and bring back our daughters.

“We don’t know why government had to withdraw the soldiers, but we believe that government knows better. We cannot, and will not rest, over this matter, until we meet four eyes with our daughters.”

Newspaper Review: Bring back our daughters - Parents of abducted Dapchi schoolgirls tell FG

Front page of The Nation, Friday, March 9 (Photo credit: NAIJ.com)

Still on the issue of the Dapchi schoolgirls, The Guardian reports that Mrs Aisha Buhari and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, used the occasion of the International Women’s Day to increase calls for the girls to be freed.

According to the publication, the president’s wife summed up the pleas with the charge: “Leave our daughters alone! Leave our daughters alone! Leave our daughters alone!”

Mrs Buhari stated that as a mother, she shared the “sorrow and agony of the parents,” and expressed her earnest desire that efforts by the government for the girls’ release would yield speedy results.

On his part, the UN scribe, at another event to commemorate the day, stated: “Such abductions are a blow to the efforts to increase girls’ education. And especially for Dapchi, this is an attack on the efforts to ensure more women take on science courses.”

Front page of The Guardian, Friday, March 9 (Photo credit: NAIJ.com)

Punch is focused on the charge by the House of Reps, for President Muhammadu Buhari to order the inspector general of police and other security chiefs to enforce the anti-open grazing law in Benue state.

The resolution was passed by the lower legislative chamber as the lawmakers again condemned the latest attacks on villagers in the Okpokwu local government area of the state where 26 more lives were lost on Monday, March 5.

Presiding over the session, Speaker Yakubu Dogara stated that the government must recognise the fact that as a state, Benue was covered by the 1999 Constitution (as amended) to make laws for the good governance of its existence.

Dogara called on the IGP Ibrahim Idris, and heads of other security agencies to implement the anti-open grazing law; stressing that there were no alternatives to enforcing a law duly passed by a state assembly.

Front page of Punch, Friday, March 9 (Photo credit: NAIJ.com)

Vanguard is however focused on the harsh stance taken against trade unions by the governor of Kaduna state, Nasir El-Rufai.

The publication reports that the governor lashed out at the organized labour unions in the country, saying they have destroyed the nation more than they have contributed to it; and that their excesses must be curtailed.

El-Rufai made his comments on Thursday, March 8, in Abuja, at a ‘Governance Matters’ roundtable organized by Development Alternative Incorporation.

He stated in part: “Trade unions have never served the country well. They have been selfish and everything is about their narrow interests. In general, in Nigeria, trade unions have been a danger to our progress and I think they should be curtailed.”

Front page of Vanguard, Friday, March 9 (Photo credit: NAIJ.com)

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Finally, the main focus of This Day newspaper is the volatile situation within the All Progressives Congress, following the tenure extension of party leaders.

According to the publication, fresh crisis may be looming in the ruling party as the national leadership is alleged to have perfected plans to amend the party’s constitution at the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting slated for this month, in order to validate the tenure extension of its principal officers at all levels.

The development has reportedly angered some concerned party leaders, who have vowed to reject the planned amendment, which they say violates Article 13(3-4) of the APC Constitution and Section 223(1-2) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.