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The Africa Support and Empowerment Initiative (AFRISEI) has rejected allegations of franchise infringement by the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) group, led by former Education minister, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili.
In a statement jointly yesterday signed by its president, Hajiya Hadiza Buhari Bello, a daughter of President Muhammadu Buhari, and the secretary, Don Uche, said their organisation is a responsible body that would never engage in illegal activities by stealing someone else’s franchise.
The explained that contrary to Ezekwesili’s allegation, the organisation did not need to lean on the BBOG to be of service to the Chibok girls and therefore had no reason to steal anything from BBOG or use its name to achieve any advantage.
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According to the statement, AFRISEI has its own defined objectives and didn’t need to steal anybody’s ideas to operate in line with its own objectives.
They explained that AFRISEI is duly registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and issued certificate of incorporation on July 14, this year.
While praising the activities of the BBOG to raise and sustain awareness about the plight of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls, the duo said AFRISEI has broader objectives beyond the Chibok girls.
They said though the Chibok girls are within the priority of their organisation, its commitments to humanitarian causes does not end with Chibok schoolgirls, adding: “Given the size of the problem at hand, the more organisations we have assisting Chibok and other devastated communities, the better for the country.”
The AFRISEI promoters stated that the organisation is committed to empowering the youth and the less privileged in the area of job creation and skill acquisition and supporting the education of the less privileged students, giving material support to the downtrodden and the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), educating the masses to discourage unhealthy practices, such as child trafficking, child abuse, child labour and gender discrimination.
They insisted that there is no law that prevents their organisation from assisting the Chibok schoolgirls, adding that as a charity organisation, they offer help to people in distress, including the Chibok girls and victims of Boko Haram attacks.
