Let #BBOG be

Recently, the Inspector General of Policeattempted to ban the #BringBackOurGirls from further agitation for the release of the kidnapped Chibok girls, branding the group a threat to “national security.” According to the IG, the Police would no longer allow #BBOG’s protest walk to the Aso Presidential Villa and to show that he meant business, on […]

Recently, the Inspector General of Policeattempted to ban the #BringBackOurGirls from further agitation for the release of the kidnapped Chibok girls, branding the group a threat to “national security.” According to the IG, the Police would no longer allow #BBOG’s protest walk to the Aso Presidential Villa and to show that he meant business, on 8th August, 2016, a team of Policewomen was deployed to take over the Unity Fountain grounds.

First of all, it’s within the democratic rights of the #BBOG to protest the kidnapping of the Chibok girls and also to express the citizens’ frustration over the inability of the state to recover and re-unite them with their families. I think that the protesting group has shown remarkable concern for the humanity of these lost children. They have also shown considerable resilience and if they were just counterfeit, they would probably have dispersed by now.

Secondly, the #BBOG is one group with which the federal government needs to be very careful; a mishandling of them can pose a significant reputation problem for the country because the search and rescue of the Chibok girls has attracted global attention. We saw how Michelle Obama, the wife of the President of the United States of America took interest in the campaign to recover the kidnapped girls by publicly holding the #BBOG poster. We also observed the interest this matter generated in Europe and Australia and Asia. The world is therefore training its eyes on how the Nigerian government is handling a domestic group that is advocating the return of the stolen Chibok girls and spearheading the preservation of the memory. How this government treats #BBOG,a high profile pressure groupwill be bracketed into its management of human rights issues, something of interest to the world.

This is because the #BBOG is led by none other than an international figure and former Vice President of the World Bank, Mrs Obiagheli Ezekwesili. Obviously, Oby has the political reach, the spiritual motivation and the intellectual means to sustain this campaign, for whatever purpose, and the government should do well to let them be. The government should be wary of impeding their movement or mistreating the group. After all, in a slip of tongue during the presidential campaign, the current Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, had revealed that the #BBOG wasan ally of the then opposition All Progressives Congress (APC); how can you begin an altercation with your allies early in the life of your administration?

Thirdly, there have been so many conspiracy theories surrounding the kidnap of the Chibok girls. Some people still believe that there was no such kidnap, that everything was planned principally to embarrass the former Goodluck Jonathan administration and to lay the ground for his ouster. Never mind the fact that their parents had been to see Patience Jonathan at the Villa and also shown on international television networks crying and demanding for the return of their return.  Fortunately, Oby and her group, just like the current government, believe that those Chibok girls were indeed kidnapped. In that case, the government and the #BBOG are on the same page, so rather than seeing each other as an irritant, they must close ranks and work together. The daily protest by the #BBOG reflects the urgency with which the parents of the children and indeed the citizens expect the government to find these girls and return them to their homes. The government therefore needs to take the #BBOG into confidence and not conflict.

In other climes, a media desk is normally established to keep the public informed round the clock on any new development in the fight for the return these girls. The government could appoint a liaison officer to work with them; the liaison officer should from time to time give the #BBOG and the public useful information on the latest efforts of government to rescue the girls, there is nothing wrong with that.

A few days ago, there was debate on the report of the Department for International Development in the British Parliament and Helen Grant, Stephen Twigg, Meg Hillier and Tobias Ellwood, all MPs, expressed regret over our country’s inability to repossess these girls. In the course of the debate, Helen Grant, MP, was quoted as saying: “I stand in this great hall as a mother, a daughter, a sister and a politician.  I can actually still hear the chants of those women (#BBOG) campaigners at the Unity Fountain (in Abuja). I can still hear them saying ‘Bring back our girls now and alive, bring them back now’ over and over. Rarely have I seen such strength and determination.”

Her colleague, Stephen Twigg also remarked: “We send out from Westminster Hall this afternoon this message – that we want, as our badges say, to bring back our girls now. I look forward to a future debate in this Chambers or the House where we can celebrate the return and re-uniting with their families, of those girls who are still alive.”

This means that the world still shares with us the tremendous goodwill, hope and willingness to help locate and regain these girls. In the final analysis the only peoplewho truly feel the pain of their loss are their parents, as such #BBOG’s unrelenting campaign for their release serves to remind us about their absence and as succour to those parents that the children have not been forgotten.

The #BBOG and the federal government are on the same page regarding the need to repossess the #Chibok girls and return them home, the IG should not do anything to open another war front with these activists. Please let the #BBOG be. 

Twitter: @ComradeAbubakar