17 parents of abducted girls are dead - CAN

olamide oni

December 30, 2015 12:39 PM

"It is really important for us to pray for the parents and also for the abducted girls so that God will help to rescue them alive."

Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) campaigners look on during a protest procession marking the 500th day since the abduction of girls in Chibok, along a road in Abuja August 27, 2015. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

The Christian Association of Nigeria CAN, Borno chapter, has said 17 parents of the Chibok girls abducted by Boko Haram terrorists are dead.

Rev. Titus Ponna, Borno State chairman of CAN, in an interview with The Nation, said that most parents of the victims prefer to assume their children are dead, perform burial rites, and move on, rather than waiting in vain for their return.

Ponna added that he discovered the frustration of the girls' parents when he went fellowship with them.

READ: Cameroon says no Chibok girls among freed hostages

His words: “I went to Chibok and fellowshipped with some of the parents of the abducted girls. I think up to 17 of the parents are dead and some others are really disturbed.

“So, I feel it is really important for us to for the parents and also for the abducted girls so that God will help to rescue them alive.

“Some of the parents told me how they wished they knew that their daughters were dead so that they would finish the ceremony…,” Rev. Ponna said.

Boko Haram seized around 200 schoolgirls in April 2014 from their dormitories in the town of Chibok, northeastern Nigeria

olamide oni