By Bayo Olupohunda
Dear Nigerians, by the time you read this, it would have been three weeks that Boko Haram insurgents stormed the hostels of Government Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State in the dead of the night and abducted more than 200 girls. The abduction of the girls, who had been sitting for the just concluded Senior School Certificate Examination had happened almost simultaneously with the Nyanya motor park bombing which claimed scores of lives and fatally maimed many others. Both incidents, which were premeditated, had shocked the nation. The country is still in shock as to how terrorists could invade a school and cart away pupils unchallenged. In the days since the incident took place, the girls have been speculated to be in the custody of Boko Haram in the Sambisa forest.
But just a few days ago, Boko Haram, which had earlier claimed responsibility for the Nyanya bombing, finally owned up to the abduction. The leader of the sect, Abubakar Shekau, in a video boasted that it carried out the abduction and promised more attacks. Nothing could be worse than imagining those vulnerable girls in the midst of terrorists. The Chibok girls’ kidnap which had previously been a Nigerian affair has now sparked off global outrage. Several international bodies, world leaders and celebrities have added their voice to the campaign to bring back the girls. The social media also brought the campaign to the attention of the global community with the evocative hashtag, BringBackOurGirls. What the current campaign has done is its exposure of the lethargic response of the Jonathan’s administration. When the news broke, Nigerians were outraged by the insensitivity of a President who went dancing on a political rally in Kano.
Apparently, the President had treated the disappearance of the girls as inconsequential, as he would other matters pertaining to the nation. But it was not surprising because the President’s lacklustre response fits into the administration’s approach to the insecurity that is crippling the country. In recent years, Nigerians have questioned the incompetence of the Jonathan Presidency to the Boko Haram insurgency. But not until the abduction of the girls has the issue gained global concern. The Chibok kidnap has thus exposed this administration’s confused strategy to the worsening security situation in the country. As I ponder on the fate of the girls, I came to a terrifying conclusion that we may never find the girls. It is a troubling thought. Emerging facts have shown that the girls are too far gone and it may now be too late to find them. It is indeed distressing to think that the once promising girls have become sex slaves to a band of marauding terrorists.
Dear Nigerians, this is not doomsday prediction but I think we should be prepared for the worst case scenario. The reality on the ground has shown us that the government is even more befuddled as to what to do. It appears it has exhausted all the strategies that can be deployed in finding the girls. The administration is caught in a dilemma. What it had thought will be a business as usual reaction by Nigerians has developed into a worldwide demand to find the girls. Now, there is no hiding place as public protests at home and abroad have forced the President to seek a belated international help especially from the United States to locate the girls.
No example demonstrates the administration’s confusion than the President’s media chat where he revealed that he did not know the location of the girls. It was a shocking revelation. The question that came to mind was; if the President and his security chiefs do not have an idea of the girls’ whereabouts, then who will? So why search if they don’t know their location? What technology has been deployed in their search? In the end, Jonathan will have to admit that his failure to respond quickly when the news broke weeks ago is the reason why we are in this mess. At the time the President was dancing away in Kano, the girls were being driven deeper into the forest or across the borders. If the authorities had treated the situation with the urgency it required a few days after the abduction, perhaps the terrorists could have been intercepted. But the terrorists had gained enough time to disappear without a trace. What is the use of a fact-finding committee, which the President characteristically set up, when the girls were long gone? In a vast and porous border that connects Nigeria with its neighbours, it would be easier to find a pin in a haystack than to find the girls.
Another reason that has confirmed my fears that we may not find the girls, at least as a group, is the intelligence report by the American government which shares the State Department concern that the girls may have been moved out of the country. If this is true, then any hope of finding the girls will be seriously jeopardised. Intelligence reports such as the one shared by the US is crucial in the war against terrorism. However, this is one area the Nigerian government has failed woefully. If there is any hope of finding the girls, it must be when they are in a group. But such an intervention should have happened as soon as they were abducted by the terrorists. Now, more than two weeks after the abduction, what hope do we have that the girls are still kept together? I do not see the possibility. That is why I consider it an impossibility that the girls will ever be found as a group. With American intelligence assessment, the girls would have been taken to different locations separated from one another.
The American intelligence assessment also confirms Jonathan’s revelation that the military do not know the location of the girls. To underscore the point that the abducted girls may never be found at least as a group, the leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, in a video released earlier in the week, said that he had a divine duty to sell the girls. Experts have suggested the video may have been made shortly after the girls were abducted. That was more than three weeks ago. Shekau boasted that the girls would be sold. If the video is true, then it is likely that Boko Haram may have already carried out its threat of marrying off the girls. So, what hope of finding the girls if they have been shared to the warlords in different locations?
These interrelated incidents paint the hopeless picture of the situation as we continue to demand the return of the girls. Now 11 more girls have been reportedly abducted. After three weeks of fruitless search, we must know that the insurgents are smarter than keeping 276 girls in one camp. They are no fools. Jonathan says he does not know where the girls are kept; America says the girls may have been taken in several groups across border to Cameroon and Chad; then the bombshell by Boko Haram that the girls would be sold only point to one depressing fact: That time is running out on any hope of finding the girls. The President has asked America for help but that may be a little too late. His government must accept the blame for not acting fast enough. Now, we can only hope that the girls will find the courage to escape their captors individually as they have done or that we simply just pray, hope and wait for a miracle.
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So you want the government to tell you the exact place the girls are kept?, Mr Bayo, security does not work that way.
ReplyDeleteHe is simply saying that the president is "a day late and a dollar short". Swift response by law enforcement is important when kidnapping occurs. The longer you waste time, the more the trail goes cold, and the less chance you have of finding the abducted
DeleteMr bayo is only saying that the president is a day late and a dollar short of finding those girls. The longer the abducted stays in hostage, the trails get colder, and the harder they are to find
DeleteMr writer if you in that position u wl do more than this all of u wl just be mouted on social media........all of you add to the problm on ground
ReplyDeleteThe president needs to sit up. Nigeria is at war. He should stop this "Luke warm" attitude. He should inspire confidence, instead he is making Nigerians feel pity for him. Sir, that's not leadership!
DeleteNigerians are too impatient. How can you draw such conclution? Do you think leadership one man's game. We are asking gej to bring Americans by the time we start paying them with our oil we will also blame gej rather than our foolishness. Nobody wants to talk about those who caused or rather created boko haram. All of us keep blaming gej. If a leader with genuine intention is weak that is because followership is weaker.
ReplyDeleteMr Bayo, to write is very good cox u only sit on a chair( probably the one that rotates) nd jot some things on a piece of paper nd u think it ends there. Ppl like u can't even manage their family not to talk of a village, u want d president to tell d whole world d where about of those girls and d nxt day they will be found dead and the blame will run back 2 d president again, this time what will u write? I guess it will be something like dis, d so call president disclosed d location of d girls to d public and everybody rushed down there 2 help which lead to d death of thousands including the girls that we intended to resue. They can even be in ur backyard and u know them but 4 d fear of being killed, u kept quiet and blame d president, u want to tell me dat those boko jharam don't ave families?
ReplyDelete@So you want the government to tell you the exact place the girls are kept?, Mr Bayo, security does not work that way.'
ReplyDeleteIf Jonathan cannot tell us where the girls are who should we ask? He is our president, commander in chief of armed forces. if u don't understand that, it means he is responsible for our safety!
eventhough m nt a political freak,i stand 2 say:its quite obvious dat u're an apc fan,nd dat has made ur view nd faithlessness in God mre worthless 2 d hearts of nigerians Mr writer...ur continous critisim of Mr president wunt change a Thing.His d president,nd wil continue 2 b until God Says his time is ova..lets 4gt politics in Dis nd sins nd mistakes Of Jonathan nd stop d killings of Lives pls!m outta here!
ReplyDeleteObserver always sees better than the actor...
ReplyDeleteBayo you also forget to add that Mr president is the founder of boko haram, he's the one who kidnapped these girls and he's the one who has been bombing and killing innocent people in the name of allah, he probably worships allah secretly but in the open behaves like a Christian. He's the one who threatened to make his government ungovernable for himself and he's damn achieving it! I can go on and on adding to things you forgot to say about the president but of what use are these blames n criticism? Your write up is one-sided, in an effort to criticize n blame to president you forgot to praise the act........sorry condemn the act of the evil Islamic terrorists. You are definitely an opposition and should not be taken seriously.
ReplyDeletepeople like you BAYO are one sided in talking and I believe you may be a BH , if you are the commandant and many of your officers are bh members . and the are the majority in the house , go back and read history on activities of psalmist extremist in Nigeria since independent, killing has been taking places in most northern state has the elders been talking . this bh has exposed what the has been hiding from the rest of the wall for quiet a long time think b4 you talk , don't play politics when it comes to internal security , pointing fingers should not be the issue now , lets us face fact who is sponsoring and accommodating bh in Nigeria ,. I pray that this will bring Nigeria a step forward to fundamental human rights and citizenship
ReplyDeleteMr Bayo you are on point but as a believer I know that with God everything is possible. It is amusing how some Nigerians can be so blindly loyal that they never see reasons. No one has insinuated that the President is guilty of the BH saga but for heaven's sake he should be bold enough as a leader to own up to challenges that are beyond him by seeking for help early or resign instead of blaming the opposition for his inefficiency. Leaders are courageous and not lily-livered. Though I voted for him, but he has since lost my respect with his insensitivity. How can a man be dancing when his house is on fire and snakes have taken over his compound.
ReplyDeleteSup Bayo, as smart as ur brian is it did not remember to think of any clue on how d girls will be found or re u suggesting we should give up on dem $ clap 4 u in ur blame game??? At point like dis, wat we need do is suggest posible solutions. D billion naira question remain; how can we find dis girls???
ReplyDeleteThis Bayo should b Arrested by d military, he is a boko Haram writer.
ReplyDelete