Ezekwesili, BBOG Join Trip To Sambisa

Co-convener of the Bringbackourgirls,(BBOG) Dr Obiageli Ezekwesili, has finally agreed to join Nigerian troops and a team led by the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed to Sambisa Forest today.

The trip is meant to search for the abducted Chibok schoolgirls in the once dreaded forest, then occupied by Boko Haram insurgents.

Ezekwesili, in an e-mail to the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed at 8.20pm on Sunday indicated the interest of her group to join the search for the missing girls in Sambisa forest by giving another conditional acceptance which the government met.

Here is the correspondence between Ezekwesili and Alhaji Mohammed on the planned guided tour of Sambisa forest tomorrow, sent by Segun Adeyemi, an aide of the minister.

”At 8.20 PM on Sunday Evening, #BBOG contacted the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, to indicate its conditional acceptance of the offer to travel with the team heading for the NE to witness first-hand the military’s ongoing search for the Chibok Girls.

This came as a surprise, considering that the #BBOG had earlier given impractical conditions for joining the trip, and the FG had rejected those conditions.

But the FG still responded, meeting all the fresh conditions stipulated by the #BBOG in the conditional acceptance letter.

Please find below the details of the latest communication between the FG and the #BBOG.
1. LETTER FROM #BBOG Co-Convener Oby Ezekwesili to the FG at 8.20 P.M.
From: Oby Ezekwesili
Date: 15 January 2017 at 8:20:43 PM WAT
To: HonMinister InfoCul
Subject: Re: #BBOG LETTER

Thanks Minister Mohammed for your letter of the 14th January in response to ours.
Can you please quickly provide us more details of the tour duration and detailed logistics including the names of the local and international media on the delegation.
We need those information to enable us send you a more substantial letter conveying our acceptance to join the “Guided Tour”.
Many thanks for your invitation.
Blessings,

Oby

2. RESPONSE FROM THE FG TO #BBOG

Dear Mrs Ezekwesili,
Thank you for your letter which I received via email this Sunday evening, at 8:20 pm, seeking more details on the planned trip to the North East.
Let me also express how glad I am that #BBOG is willing to reconsider its decision not to join us on the trip
The trip will last two days, starting on Monday, 16 Jan. 2017.
Concerning the logistics, the team will be ferried to Yola by the Nigerian Air Force, from where a select group will join the NAF search mission to Sambisa (Please see below for the programme).
On the list of the local and international journalists accompanying us, please see the names below:
1. Stanley Nwosu FRCN
2. Fred Ayo NTA
3. Anthony Forson NTA
4. Solomon Chung VON
5. Ariyo Obagbemile FMIC Photographer
6. Amaka Okafor Channels TV
7. Kabiru Owoyomi Channels TV
8. Felix Onuah Reuters
9. Rotimi Jikanmi NAN
10. Ola Awoniyi AFP
11. Seun  The Nation
12. Samson Adeleke CCTV (To syndicate video to international broadcasters)
13. Sola Fabiyi Punch
14. Joseph Mutah CPS

Note: The Times of London Correspondent is on standby

Thanks and best regards

Alhaji Lai Mohammed
Minister of Information and Culture

PROGRAMME
Arrive Monday do the exercise and depart Tuesday
Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance (ISR)
Programme is broadly
ISR Day/ Night – planning brief
– Flight over Sambisa
– Debrief
Ex wash up / Media Interview