The
Africa Support and Empowerment Initiative (AFRISEI) has rejected allegations of
franchise infringement levelled against her by the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG)
group, led by former Education Minister, Dr Oby Ezekwesili.
The
refutal is contained in a statement co-signed by the President and Secretary of
AFRISEI, Hajiya Hadiza Buhari-Bello, a daughter of President Muhammadu Buhari,
and Don Uche, respectively.
The
BBOG advocacy group, via a statement jointly signed by Aisha Yesufu and Oby
Ezekwesili, had dissociated the BBOG group from a fund-raising event organised
by Hadiza Buhari-Bello, daughter of Nigeria’s president.
The
event tagged Official Inauguration and Signing of Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) on the Chibok Girls Endowment Project, took place at the Peace Corps of
Nigeria premises, Abuja on October 17, with the #BringBackOurGirls inscription
on the backdrop.
While
demanding an immediate retraction and unreserved apology from the organisers of
the event, the BBOG also urged the general public to disregard attempts at
linking the group to the event.
However,
Hadiza Buhari-Bello and Uche stated that contrary to Yesufu and Ezekwesili’s
allegation, AFRISEI did not need to lean on the BBOG to be of service to the
Chibok Girls.
They
maintained that they had no reason “to steal anything from BBOG or use its name
to achieve any advantage.
“The
Africa Support and Empowerment Initiative has its own defined objectives and it
didn’t need to steal anybody’s ideas to operate in line with its own
objectives,’’ the statement stated.
While
praising the activities of the BBOG to raise and sustain awareness about the
plight of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls, the President’s daughter said that
their organisation had broader objectives beyond the Chibok girls.
They
said though the Chibok girls were within the priority of their organisation,
their commitments to humanitarian causes does not end with Chibok schoolgirls.
“Given
the size of the problem at hand, the more organisations we have assisting
Chibok and other devastated communities, the better for the country,’’ they
said.
According
to them, as a charitable organisation, AFRISEI is committed to empowering the
youth and the less privileged in the area of job creation and skill acquisition.
“It
is also committed to supporting the education of the less privileged students,
giving material support to the downtrodden; the internally displaced persons.
“AFRISEI
is committed to educating the masses to discourage unhealthy practices such as
child trafficking, child abuse, child labour and gender discrimination.’’
The
AFRISEI president and secretary said there was no law that prevented their
organisation from assisting the Chibok schoolgirls, adding that as a charity
organisation, they offered help to people in distress, including the Chibok
girls and other Boko Haram victims.
They
noted that AFRISEI was duly registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission
and issued certificate of incorporation on July 14, and hence would never
engage in illegal activities by stealing someone else’s franchise.
Source:The
Nation
Tags
Society