Missing girls' parents refuse to meet with Nigerian president

Parents and schoolmates of the 219 schoolgirls held captive by anti-government rebel group Boko Haram refused Tuesday to meet with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, who in turn accused activists of "playing politics" by persuading the families to snub him.

"It now appears that our fight to get the girls of Chibok back is not only a fight against a terrorist insurgency but also against a political opposition," Jonathan said in a release.

The mass abduction on April 15, exactly three months ago, has been plagued by politics from the start. First Lady Patience Jonathan initially denied the kidnappings had occurred. Rather, she claimed, reports of the incident were lies fabricated by her husband’s enemies to damage his image.

She also had two leading activists of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign arrested, which has left relations between the government, security forces and campaign leaders strained. In May, when campaigners tried to stage a peaceful march in the capital Abuja to present their demands to President Jonathan, they were blocked by soldiers and police.

On Tuesday, security agents locked the doors to the National Assembly, preventing campaigners from attending a scheduled meeting with the Senate president, said Rotimi Olawale, a spokeswoman for the campaign.

It seems the campaigners then persuaded the parents and escaped girls to cancel their meeting with President Jonathan, who has faced international condemnation for his slow response to rescue the girls.

"My priority is not politics. My priority is the return of these girls," Jonathan's statement read. He accused the Nigerian chapter of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign of "psychological terrorism ... playing politics with the situation and the grief of the parents and the girls. They should be ashamed of their actions."

Jonathan has never met with the parents or the escaped girls, though they have been asking to meet with him for weeks. In May, he canceled, without explanation, a trip to Chibok, the remote northeast town where the girls were kidnapped.

Politics may have played a part in that cancellation since Chibok is situated in the northeastern state of Borno, which is governed by an opposition politician very critical of Jonathan. Borno is also where the Boko Haram insurgency is strongest.

On Monday, Nigeria's leader promised Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai that he would meet the parents. Malala said that was the parents' wish, that they wanted the support of their president.

"The president promised me ... that the abducted girls will return to their homes soon," 17-year-old Malala, who has called the 219 missing students her "sisters," told a news conference after a 45-minute meeting with Jonathan at the presidential villa.

After the meeting was canceled Tuesday, Jonathan said: "I want to be clear, this government stands with complete solidarity with the girls and their parents. We are doing everything in our power to bring back our girls.

"As a father of girls, I stand ready to meet with the parents of our abducted children and the truly brave girls that have escaped this nightmare through the grace of God."

Meanwhile, Boko Haram has continued to attack towns in Nigeria's restive northeast. At least 26 people were killed on Monday when insurgents stormed the village of Dille, Borno state, gunning down residents and setting homes and churches on fire.

Wire services