African news : breaking news, features, analysis

Parents of the abducted students of Government Secondary School (GSS) Chibok, Borno, on Sunday alerted the public on the activities of some fraudsters using their names to defraud Nigerians and corporate bodies.

More than 200 students of the school were abducted by suspected insurgents on April 14, 2014, while writing their final examination.

Mr Yakubu Maina, the Chairman of the association of parents of the abducted girls, raised the alert at a news conference in Maiduguri.

“We wish to alert Nigerians and corporate organisations on the existence of some individuals and organisations masquerading as parents of Chibok girls to defraud them of their money.
“The call became necessary because this group have turned the agitation for the release of our daughters into a scam,” he said.

Maina, suppported by the Secretary of the association, Mr Lawan Zanna, lamented that the group had often deceived some parents of the girls into attending their functions only to be duped.

“We have realised that the whole thing have been turned into business by individuals who pretend to be fighting our cause.
“Some real parents had been lured to attending meetings with highly placed individuals in Abuja and beyond only to discover that they have been short changed by these individuals,” Maina said.

He said that 14 parents of the abducted girls have died due to heart related diseases.
“Fourteen parents have so far died since the abduction of our girls in 2014.
“Most of them died due mainly to heart related diseases and trauma,” said the chairman. (NAN)