The event, in Abuja on Friday, had the theme - ‘Where goes our girl child, our nation goes.’
The monarch, represented by his daughter, Shahida Sanusi, said he stayed away from the event due to the criticisms he had received from northern leaders following his statement of last week wherein he criticised them for being responsible for many of the North’s social maladies.
Sanusi said rather than address the issues, ‘anti-intellectual’ persons were trying to silence him.
He said, “Our colleagues and compatriots among the elite do not like statistics. Numbers are disturbing. I recently gave a speech in which I said the North-East and North-West of Nigeria are the poorest parts of the country. This simple statement of fact has generated so much heat, the noise has yet to die down.
“The response to this speech has been a barrage of personal attacks and insults aimed at silencing any voices that dare shine the light on the society to which we are saying Bring Back our Girls.
“There are those who believe these attacks are aimed at discrediting me personally but even if that is the objective, it will not work. I can only be discredited by what I have done and not by insults and lies on the social media. And in any event, personal criticism has no impact on the issues.”
He said he had been championing the cause of the downtrodden all his life. Sanusi added that even if he was dethroned, he would continue to speak for the rights of the helpless.
1,500 girls carrying B’Haram babies
Sanusi also said there are at least 1,500 girls either carrying or nursing babies fathered by Boko Haram fighters at the Dalori 2 Internally Displaced Persons camp near Maiduguri alone.
He, therefore, called on all Nigerians, especially members of the ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ group to do everything possible to protect the girl child or face another existential crisis in the near future.
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