Today marks the third year since no fewer than 276 schoolgirls were forcibly taken into captivity from Chibok town in Borno State by the blood-thirsty Boko Haram terrorist group. It is disheartening that a majority of the girls, who thought they were secure within the confines of their school, while preparing for their final examination, are yet to breathe the air of freedom since April 14, 2014 when the kidnapping incident occurred. It is even more troubling that no news is heard of their possible fate right now.
It is, perhaps, only in a soulless society, where the value placed on life is low, as is the case with Nigeria, that such a monumental tragedy as the disappearance of hundreds of schoolgirls will befall a nation and yet, life continues as usual. What is the essence of government if not to secure the lives and property of citizens? Israel, for instance, will spare no expense in rescuing its kidnapped citizens anywhere in the world. Sadly, very little government impact has been felt in attempts to mitigate the tragic incident. Instead, Boko Haram has, since then, topped off its hostage inventory.
So far, over 70 girls have been reunited with their families, out of the initial 276 that were taken. Among the escapees, 51 had managed to break away from the heavily guarded convoy that was conveying them to the vast Sambisa Forest when the lorry they shared with stolen foodstuffs broke down along the way. One simply wandered out of the camp into safety, on her own, and was promptly picked up by the Civilian Joint Task Force members. The only ones with any government linkage had been the 21 released after a negotiated settlement with Boko Haram. Even then, credit for that goes largely to the Red Cross and the Swiss government that brokered the deal.
Unfortunately, the promise of securing the release of an even larger batch of girls has failed to materialise since October 31 last year when the 21 girls were liberated. It is obvious that whatever strategies the government must have been adopting so far to get the girls back have flopped; and this was obvious right from the beginning when the Goodluck Jonathan administration started off by denying the abduction itself. That period of doubt gave the deranged bandits a head start and the country lost a golden opportunity to go after them and rescue the girls.
More importantly, it appears there has not been any clear-cut rescue strategy. Attention appears to have been wholly focused on chasing Boko Haram away, hoping that, in the process, the girls would be found. Initially, Nigerians were told that going into a confrontation with the terrorists would further endanger the lives of the girls. Later, a former Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh, said nobody knew exactly where the girls were. The current Army chief, Tukur Buratai, has also admitted helplessness in locating them. But this should not be so in these days of technology and intelligence gathering.
Wherever they may be today, the girls will no doubt be feeling terribly let down, not only by the country they call theirs, but by the entire humanity that has failed to act to save them from their ordeal. The pledge by President Muhammadu Buhari to rescue them now sounds hollow and very distant. He had said in his inauguration speech that Nigeria “cannot claim to have defeated Boko Haram without rescuing the Chibok girls and all other innocent persons held hostage by insurgents.” Today, the government has been celebrating “victory” over the terrorists who still have the girls firmly in their custody.
When the girls and their parents recall how Israeli commandos stormed the Entebbe Airport in Uganda in 1976 to rescue their compatriots who were held hostage by Palestinian hijackers, with overt support from Idi Amin, they would probably wish that they were born in such a country. That is a country where the lives of citizens matter and the state would go to any length to secure them. Similarly, no American citizen is abandoned when in trouble anywhere in the world, as have been seen in cases where some of them were rescued from the North Korean government.
Jeffrey Fowler, Eddie Yong-su and Aijalon Gomes are among United States citizens that regained their freedom because of their government’s intervention. A former US President, Jimmy Carter, flew to North Korea in 2010 to secure Gomes’ release. The Nigerian government should show more interest in the lives of its citizens as the Israelis did when they released 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for just one soldier, Gilad Shalit, who was captured by Hamas in 2006.
Terrorist kidnapping is an urgent threat to the civilised world. But Nigeria failed to capitalise on the international outrage sparked by the kidnap of the girls three years ago, which saw celebrities like the then American First Lady, Michelle Obama; British Prime Minister, David Cameron; and film star, Angelina Jolie, all identifying with the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. Although Nigeria initially rebuffed efforts by the international community to help in the rescue, it is not too late to now elicit that help. Countries like Israel, the US and United Kingdom that have shown demonstrable capacity in counter-terrorism operations should not just look on, but should seize the initiative and give a helping hand for humanity’s sake. This is the time to bring back our girls.
