•Release of Chibok girls should not be made subject of propaganda
It is more than six months since the 219 Chibok school girls abducted by the terror group, Boko Haram, have been in captivity. It is therefore understandable that any suggestion of impending breakthrough in efforts to get them released would lead to excitement across the country. So was an announcement that a deal had been struck for a ceasefire and possible end to the insurgency that had claimed thousands of lives and led to devastation in parts of the North East and the North West.
However, barely one week after the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh and the Director of the National Information Centre gleefully announced an agreement reached between representatives of the terror group and the Federal Government, nothing appears to have changed. We are miffed at the breaking news of significant progress in talks between the two parties when discussions had just ended. The bloodletting continued within 24 hours of the announcement as the Boko Haram insurgents killed 25 in Borno villages and, within days, abducted 60 women in parts of Adamawa State, according to a report.
We find it difficult to understand the premature instruction to troops to cease hostilities when the rather complicated negotiations were still on. Mallam Shehu Sani of the Civic Rights Organisation who had been involved in previous negotiations and obviously has solid contacts with leaders of Boko Haram expressed doubts of any ceasefire being agreed and imminent release of the abducted girls.
Anybody who has any idea of negotiations with terrorists and militants knows how complicated it could be. It involves many layers and could take some time for a breakthrough to be agreed. Besides, what is the hurry in making announcements while talks were still on? We hope the information was not released merely to shore up the political rating of President Goodluck Jonathan ahead of the declaration of his interest in the presidential election. If this is so, it would be unfortunate, indeed. The lives of the 219 girls and the peace of Nigeria are too important to be so treated. The territorial integrity of the country, for which many officers and men of the armed forces and citizens had been killed, should not be so traded by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.
Like all Nigerians, we are anxious to have the girls rescued and reunited with their families. We hope they would remain healthy as they were when kidnapped on April 14. We call on the Federal Government to do everything necessary to secure their release and ensure the security of lives and property in all parts of the country.
It is deceptive and unacceptable that, while still holding talks, the government had made announcement of a deal. It is obvious that a shoddy job was done in the deal reportedly reached. Was the government able to identify the real leaders of the sect? Were the talks held with the terror group or a faction of it? Was the principal secretary to the president the appropriate person to handle the talks or would it have been more appropriate to get more senior members of the administration and those involved in previous negotiations involved?
This would be the fourth time a ceasefire would be announced. And, they yielded no results. We therefore call on the government to raise a more credible team to handle the negotiations and be more discreet in handling information. No one should use this sensitive matter for propaganda geared towards reaping political benefits. It is the duty of government to secure the lives and property of all Nigerians and the Jonathan government owes us all a duty to ensure that the armed forces are equipped to ward off external and internal aggression as well as get the innocent Chibok girls released or rescued.
