Re: Of Chibok schoolgirls and a reluctant president

However, tomorrow would be 51 days since Boko Haram insurgents kidnapped unknown numbers of school girls purported to be 234 at Government Girls Secondary School Chibok in Borno State—the  North-Eastern part of Nigeria . The number is said to be unknown because there are many figures given—most of which have not been ascertained.  As the […]

However, tomorrow would be 51 days since Boko Haram insurgents kidnapped unknown numbers of school girls purported to be 234 at Government Girls Secondary School Chibok in Borno State—the  North-Eastern part of Nigeria . The number is said to be unknown because there are many figures given—most of which have not been ascertained.  As the #BringBackOurGirls campaigners insist on keeping the wheel of their caravan moving, I think we have to look at the order side of the coin. I mean we have to revisit the questions Kema Chikwe asked sometimes ago: “How did it happen? Who saw it happen? Who did not see it happen? Who is behind this?.” in order to draw the  conclusion that “those behind these crimes love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil” as Kema rightly stressed.
Even though I have argued in many instances along the line that these girls were abducted, given the following circumstances and the manner in which the issue is now been managed, there is every reason for Nigerians to doubt the abduction of these girls. I am not a pessimist! I am an optimist but, I am beginning to believe that there is a conspiracy surrounding the ambience of the so-called abduction of these girls alleged to be 234. The figure itself appears to have been fabricated so as to be easily remembered by all and sundry — including children. However, when Kema raised her doubt, the whole world booed her including Jibrin Ibrahim not minding that she has right to freedom of speech. Unfortunately, she immediately swallowed her words. I want to reiterate that she had a point; a point that we are unwilling to accept. We are averse to think outside the box and call a spade a spade. We are even opposed to carry out a forensic analysis of the whole matter. Thanks to Jibrin, he has given us some insights as he concluded that “I am sure my understanding of these complicated issue is rather limited”. I’ll help him out with some points.
One of those issues that cast doubt on the reality of this large scale kidnapping was the report in media that some of these girls escaped immediately the abductions took place.  How? It sounds very absurd and ridiculous that such fragile folk under treat of being killed and bullying by blood tasty insurgents who are always trigger happy and willing and ready to shoot at anyone in opposition to their wishes and command could think of disobeying their captors not to talk of escaping. More so, the Nigerian Army’s spoke person, Brig. General Chris Olukolade immediately issued a statement that the Army has rescued some of these girls — subsequently, the statement turns out to be false. Also questionable, was the report that there was no single principal officer in the school at the time the incident took place. Was this a deliberate action or a coincidence? How on earth could a boarding school — girls’ boarding school for that matter — not have a single officer to account for the welfare of the students in case of any eventuality. There are more questions with little or no answer.
In a video posted on YouTube by Boko Haram insurgents, over 100 of these girls where shown reciting the opening chapter of the Muslim scripture with a perfect intonation of a Hafiz (someone who has committed the Qur’an to memory) and a bit akin to that of an Arabic school girl in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Of cause, there was all indication that these girls were not in a state of trepidation nor tensed up. Ordinarily, common sense would suggest that they should have had a guise of a jailbird or folks who have been taken hostage. That aside, the level of perfection of their recitation is highly questionable considering the report that majority of these girls her Christians. I do not need any Mullah or expert in Arabic phonology to convince me, for sure, it is not possible for these girls to have perfected the recitation of Qur’anic verses in less than a month. The pronunciation of the consonant and vowels is just too accurate to believe by someone with an elementary knowledge of Arabic language.
Unexpectedly, it was Evangelist Matthew Owojaiye of Old Time Revival Church in Kaduna who first published the list of 180 abducted girls on May 4, 2014 via Sahara reporters. How did a Kaduna base Evangelist obtain a list which supposed to have been published either by Government Girls Secondary School Chibok, WAEC or Borno State government? How and where did he get the list from? I am sure; Borno State is not close to Kaduna State in anyway. The SSS need to invite this Evangelist for interrogation. It could be that he has more information that could help in investigating the matter accordingly.
More so, Daily Trust of May 28, 2014 reported on page 7 that “the claims by the police and officials of the West African Examination council (WAEC) that they alerted the Borno State Government against conducting any examinations in Chibok may not be true, document seen by Daily Trust show”. In fact, the report affirmed that “WAEC did not single out Chibok as unsafe but requested for security personal in many centres”. This is also one of those contradiction and questionable circumstances surrounding the abduction which answers must be given by #BringBackOurGirls. In the alternative, sceptics would hold on to their opinion and keep doubting the kidnapping of these girls — perhaps, including Mr. President —while believers and rabble-rouser such as Jibrin Ibrahim, Oby Ezekwesili, Aisha and Florence can hold on to their opinion that there was a large-scale kidnapping  of sort. Until and unless #BringBackOurGirls campaigners are able to establish and empirically prove that there was LARGE SCALE abduction at Chibok, Nigerians would remain doubtful of the authenticity of this incidence.
The United States has disputed the claim by Chief of Army Staff, Alex Badeh that the Army knew the location of the girls. This is just the beginning of the end of the conspiracies and questionable circumstances surrounding this matter. I advise #BringBackOurGirls campaigners to look beyond their nose and be more critical than engaging in merrymaking campaign that has yielded little or no result in bringing back these girls back home to their families.

al-Ansari can be reached at [email protected]