Chibok girls, a nation’s agony, a people’s dilemma

Sit on President Muhammadu Buhari’s chair at Aso Rock Villa and look ahead of you. Whatever there is to see is replaced by searing bold impressions – Uneasy Lies the Head. Given the many intriguing dilemmas that abound in Nigeria, it does say boldly does it not, that uneasy lies the head that wears the […]

Sit on President Muhammadu Buhari’s chair at Aso Rock Villa and look ahead of you. Whatever there is to see is replaced by searing bold impressions – Uneasy Lies the Head. Given the many intriguing dilemmas that abound in Nigeria, it does say boldly does it not, that uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. Try to take a decision on the pressure to secure the release of the Chibok girls abducted from their school classroom exactly two years ago as they sat their exams. The insurgents for many years have told a disbelieving nation that the girls had been sold, or had been married off and had undergone a faith change process. You have campaigners namely the Bring Back Our Girls Group goading, coaxing, rubble rousing and showing you that your best at finding the girls has not been good enough. Make no mistake. I appreciate the BBOG movement. They may never appreciate their contributions when in the end the girls are rescued. The sun, the moon and the stars without force, speak reminders daily of our creation and our responsibilities to wake up to work and to retire to our rests. The BBOG are a strong life statement of our commitment to the keeping of our neighbor, to the sharing of each other’s woes.
As President, you are accused of never having once visited Chibok and this is seen as a lacking in sympathy and compassion on your part. The the second anniversary of the girls’ abduction was marked last week and not unexpectedly, their video surfaced. Networks worldwide recapped the event with heart-rending accounts of the agony of the girls, their parents, a whole community and of course, a whole country.
It seems a carefully worked script. Demonstrations of the pressure group, including a botched effort to march into the Presidential Villa at Aso Rock – all members in red, media coverage and cacophony of the abduction from all imaginable view angles. Then CNN uses the exclusive footage of 15 of the 219 girls and goes to Chibok and Maiduguri. We see a few of the parents of the abducted girls watch the video of them in a well packaged flick by Nima Elbagir, and we see the parents recognize their daughters and tears flowing, as we see the reporter’s reverse shot of herself also in tears, and we the emotional ones let our own roll down. We wonder how the President reacts to all this.
We are told the video was released by a well-known contact and reportedly, with the demand for $50m ransom. Elsewhere, social activist Shehu Sani, now Senator, who once "negotiated" peace with Boko Haram lets it be known that it would be worthwhile to listen to renowned journalist Ahmad Salkida, acclaimed for his reliable information about the insurgents, and to accept his offer of rescue options for the girls. Meanwhile, Ahmad Salkida on his tweeter passes ominous caution that Boko Haram may no longer hold territory, and that there may be fewer bombs, but the snake has not even been scorched since most of the key terrorists are still on the loose. In the meantime, it is very clear that the insurgency has been decapitated and rendered without functional base, and its members, scattered in attempts to fuse with normal civilian population. Even this week, Shehu Sani opines that the failure to rescue the girls for this long was because they were not children of highly placed citizens.
I imagine what President Buhari as a battle tested soldier would be thinking of all this. What do you do in his shoes and on his chair? Do you succumb to this pressure and take a chance? He had earlier fumed that the video proof of life he had seen did not mean credible intelligence to him on the Chibok girls. Understandably so. Out of 219 girls, is the sight of only 15 against a wall in an undated clip enough proof of existence? What of the remaining 204? Who shot the video? Would Boko Haram let Government negotiators shoot a current video? What guarantees can be given of there being no dramatic turn of events for the tragic?
Even as the Nigerian troops have secured the upper hand in the counter terrorism effort, is the possibility of the girls being in Sambisa Forest now remote? How much easier it must have been for the American President Barak Obama. He has no #GetbinLaden Group breathing down his neck, no demands for $50m. No pressures of time limits by anyone.
The sight of those parents watching the video is disheartening. They or any parent would pay their last Naira for their children to return to their warm embrace. Yet it is not that simple. Aside from paying and not getting the girls back, would you not now have pumped resources into the hands of insurgents that you are subduing with great pains, and thereby rejuvenating their strength? And what signal are you sending to other fundamentalist miscreants other than that abduction of this nature is good business? That in this day and age, a group of people feel justified to raid a school and abduct a whole nearly 300 school girls, and hold them hostage for upwards of two years! And want us to negotiate terms of release. Senator Shehu Sani proposes another team of Government negotiators. President Goodluck Jonathan attempted this and became the laughing stock, times over, if we recall. Some teams were duped, and in fact we can recall the emphatic announcement by Air Marshall Alex Badeh, then defense chief that a truce had been agreed which the insurgents disclaimed. What guarantees does Government have? But in matters of human life especially for vulnerable people like the simple folks of Chibok, every option is justified by the end – getting the girls back.