In a
piece he shared on social media, Reno Omokri raised some questions on the
recent release of 82 Chibok schoolgirls by Boko Haram members. Read his piece below...
Anybody that is not happy that 82 Chibok girls were released must be a monster whose humanity should be called into question.
I thank God that these girls have been released and I
commend the Federal Government for the feat of ensuring that these girls are
reunited with their families. May God bless President Muhammadu Buhari for
providing the leadership that enabled this to happen. Having said that, there
are some factual observations I want to raise. What you are about to read is
completely devoid of any opinion. I am just stating facts.
You may not like the facts. You may not even like me. But
one thing you cannot do is ignore the fact. May 5, 2017, 82 Chibok girls were
released by Boko Haram to the Nigerian government after negotiations that
involved a prisoner swap and according to some news reports also included
substantial payments but questions about this incidence remain. On May 3, 2017,
international AFP News Agency reported that on Friday April 29, 2017 fighter
jets from the Nigerian Air Force had pounded Boko Haram positions in Balla
village, which is 25 miles from Damboa, just outside Sambisa Forest. Citing
intelligence reports, they reported that the bombing was so intense that
several Boko Haram fighters were killed including the group's deputy leader,
Abba Mustapha, alias Malam Abba and another leader, Abubakar Gashua, alias Abu
Aisha, described as a key person in the group's hierarchy.
The Nigerian Air force emailed a statement to the AFP in
support of these reports on the same day and said "Battle damage
assessment conducted after the strike showed that several leaders of the Boko
Haram terrorist organisation and their followers were killed during the
attacks". Babakura Kolo, a member of the Civilian JTF (a militia
registered with the Nigerian government to help in the fight with Boko Haram)
testified that "a number of commanders were killed."
On May 4, 2017, Boko Haram's leader, Abubakar Shekau,
released a video denouncing and taunting the Nigerian government over the
attack and promising reprisals. Yet, after this incident on April 29, 2017 that
led to the death of their top commanders and many of their foot soldiers, Boko
Haram still went on to release 82 Chibok girls to the same Nigerian government
that their leader had sworn revenge on exactly a week earlier?
Does this add up? Does this gel with reality? Does this even
make sense? Is Boko Haram that magnanimous? On May 7, 2017, when the girls were
ferried over to the Nigerian Presidential Villa at Aso Rock, Abuja to meet with
President Muhammadu Buhari, photographs released showed them looking very well
fed and robust.
In fact, the next day (May 8) Africa's top blog, Linda
Ikeji's blog published a photo of the released girls side by side with a
picture of a woman and her baby in one of the Internally Displaced Persons camp
in Borno state for a side by side comparison and these Chibok girls, who had
been living rough inside Sambisa forest looked well fed, well groomed and buxom
while the woman in the IDP camp looked haggard and hungry. It leaves you
questioning who has been in captivity and who has been free. How is this
possible?
This is not the first time Chibok girls have been released.
Almost exactly a year ago, just a week before the current Nigerian
administration marked its first year in office some Chibok girls were also
released. Another batch were released in October 2016.
The thing is that when these girls are released there is a
media blackout on them. No one is allowed near them to interview them. I
understand that they have gone through an ordeal, but Malala also went through
a similar or even worse ordeal and no one shielded her from the press. Malala
Yousafzai was shot at age 15 by the taliban and left unconscious.
She survived and she was threatened by the taliban who
threatened to kill her should they catch her. Her case was one of clear and
present danger. Yet she was not sequestered from the public even though, like
the Chibok girls, her English was not so good at first. In fact, an
international press tour was arranged for her placing her on the world stage
and kick starting the activism that earned her a Nobel Prize making her the
youngest person ever to be so awarded.
One would have thought that is what would have played out
for the released girls. Last October, 21 Chibok girls were released by Boko
Haram after negotiations. Till date, these girls have been kept from the press.
Even their own parents are not allowed to see them The New York Times piece on
them published on March 11, 2017.
The girls are kept in a safe house according to the New York
Times. During the Christmas holidays they were allowed to visit Chibok but were
housed in the home of a "top politician". Their parents were only
allowed to 'visit them'. Soldiers guarded the girls and after some hours asked
the parents of the girls to leave.
On Christmas Day itself, they were denied entry to the politician's
house to see their own children and on January 8, 2017 the girls were returned
to their safe house and according to the New York Times "Neither the
public nor their parents have been able to see them since." No one really
knows what went on with these girls since their abduction. It is all smoke and
mirrors. These girls are innocent.
They did not kidnap themselves. They were pawns in a game
whose puppeteers we do not yet know. No one should raise any questions about
these girls after what they have been through. But surely we can raise
questions about events themselves. Think people. Am I the only one seeing this?
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If Boko Haram were not "magnanimous" why were you and your inglorious looters and rogues called PDP unable to make any meaningful stride against them?oh! sorry you did made more than enough strides emptying the treasury fighting shadows
ReplyDeleteI honestly hate people who comment as anonymous. Why? Their comments are always senseless. The man just placed facts before us, and he already stated in the beginning that it was not his opinion, but pure fact. He said we may not like him but be should look at the facts and reason accordingly. It seems you neither undertood what was written nor can you reason at all. This plaform is not for people like you please. Please let us be reasonable in both our thinking and comments.
DeleteA word is enough .......
Thanks.
Logical and factual. What an analysis!
ReplyDeleteSee reasoning...Conspiracy Theory Unfolding..end of part 1
ReplyDeleteI can only pray that Reno will experience this evil personally: may his daughter be kidnapped at the age of 14 and held captive for 3 years. That will help unravel the who conspiracy!!
ReplyDelete