“The whole nation has failed these children,” Tunde Bakare says

Bakare spoke on Sunday, April 10, 2016, during a special sit-out of the Bring Back Our Girls group in Abuja.

he Senior Pastor of the Latter Rain Gospel Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare has lamented the continuous captivity of the over 200 Chibok Girls who were abducted on April 14, 2014.

Bakare spoke on Sunday, April 10, 2016, during a special sit-out of the Bring Back Our Girls group in Abuja, Vanguard reports.

“The whole nation has failed these children. Parents, families and friends of our dear daughters, I am here today not just to speak to you, but to speak to the nation and to the world as one of you," he said.

“I'm here as a father burdened by the captivity of our daughters, and I am here as a friend. I am here to express our frustrations and to speak of our undying hope as we wait expectantly for the return of our dear Chibok girls.

“We are not unmindful that the Nigerian state failed to provide security for our daughters as they gathered to write final examinations despite prior intelligence reports that suggested they were in danger.

“It is most severely injurious to see that the fate of our daughters has been frequently politicized. Rather than rise to the occasion as stakeholders and custodians of the security and welfare of the citizens of this nation, political parties and politicians have paid lip service, using our pain and plight of our daughters to score cheap political points.

“We are not convinced that the matter of our daughters has been given the needed thoughtfulness. We do not believe that those who are in a position to act have taken sufficient actions towards addressing the issue or even towards claiming our anxiety as waiting parents.

“We do not believe those concerned have taken sufficient actions concerning the rescue of these girls", he said, expressing optimism that the girls would be rescued even as he prayed God to see to that.

“We believe that they are still alive, at least no evidence, satellite evidence that they are in a mass grave. We believe they are alive. It remains a scar on the soul of this nation until these girls are brought back,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government has denied reports that Boko Haram recently demanded a ransom of $50 million in exchange for the girls.