Femi Ogbonnikan in Abeokuta
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, saturday in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, played host to some parents of the Chibok girls, who are still kept in an undisclosed location by suspected members of the dreaded Boko Haram terrorist sect since their abduction from the Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, in July 2014.
The Chibok parents made up of 17 women and 13 men stormed the Abeokuta country home of the former Nigerian President to intercede on their behalf and plead with both the Federal government and the international community to expedite action for the release of the 112 children that are still being held captive by the terrorist sect.
The ex-President who received the distraught parents at the Green Legacy Resort within his Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Abeokuta, expressed confidence in President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration’s ability to rescue the remaining girls.
Citing Biblical passages from John:16:33 and James1:2, he admonished the parents not to despair any longer, preaching that God who does no evil understands their plight and is capable of bringing succour to them in no time.
Obasanjo also reminded them that as Christians, it should not be forgotten that they would experience tribulations and fiery trials in the world such as the one burdening them in the last four years now, and added that God who allowed it, also has a good purpose for it.
“I want to share with you some of my own thought about the sovereignty of God and what He can do. He is all-knowing, powerful and can do anything.
“I want to share some passages in the Bible. Some of the passages in the Bible have similar passages in the Holy Qur’an (John 16 vs 33). I have told you this that you may have peace and confidence in me, but in the world, you will have tribulations, trials and distress, and be undaunted for I have overcome the world.
“That is our Lord Jesus talking to his disciples and all of us who are Christians are Jesus disciples. Jesus did not say we will not have tribulations in the world, He said we will have tribulations, trials and distress. Our faith will be tested.
“Whatever God allows to happen, He allows it for a good purpose, to test our faith and it is in testing of our faith that our character is shaped and strengthened. I understand how you feel now, I understand your pain and your anguish, God never does evil; whatever happens is to strengthen and make us perfect,” he said.
Reading a prepared speech, one of the parents, Mr. Yakubu Nkeki, appealed to Obasanjo to “ginger” the Federal Government and world leaders to bring their “daughters back from captivity.”
Nkeki lamented that in about a month time, it would be four years a total of 276 Chibok school girls have been abducted, saying while 162 of them had been set free, while 112 others – who are their children, still remain with the terrorist sect.