Rescue the Chibok Girls Now
The abduction of more than one hundred female students of the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State by suspected Boko Haram insurgents last Monday has been one of the most heartwrenching episodes of the ugly insurgency that has caused deep pain and shock to Nigerians as well as to well-meaning people throughout Africa and the world. Even though the Borno State Government had closed all schools in the state in order to avert attacks such as the one at Federal Government College, Bunu Yadi in nearby Yobe State some weeks ago, these girls numbering 129 had assembled at the school to write their final SSCE exams. They were all SS III students of the ages 16 to 18 years.
It was doubly painful that the raid on the school and the girls’ mass abduction occurred within hours of the bomb attack at Nyanya, on Abuja city outskirts that claimed 75 lives while over a hundred persons suffered various injuries. Even though Boko Haram insurgents had previously abducted young girls from schools or communities that they attacked, the Chibok abduction was by far the largest of its kind. Witnesses said the raiders made several lorry trips in order to evacuate their victims. Given the accounts related by some women that managed in recent months to escape from the insurgents’ captivity, there is pain and anxiety all around for the young girls’ fate in the hands of such unscrupulous people.
Given the chaotic nature of the raid and abductions, authorities had a hard time arriving at the correct figures. It was known that 129 girls were present at the school that night. While most of them were snatched by the insurgents, some managed to evade abduction. Still others managed to jump from the trucks or cling to trees as they were being ferried through the bush. Later in the week, more of the girls escaped from the raiders and found their ways home. The Borno State Government kept updating the figures as it got them.
The Chibok school’s Principal Mrs Asabe Kwambura, the state Commissioner for Education Musa Inuwa Kubo as well as Governor Kashim Shettima regularly provided updates. As the week ended, they had together confirmed that 16 girls managed to evade abduction; their parents brought them to the school following appeals by the state government for a proper census to be taken. Of the abducted ones, they confirmed that 14 initially escaped by jumping off the trucks. On Friday evening, they also confirmed that another 14 escaped from the captors along the Biu-Damboa road and were reunited with their families, for a total of 44 girls accounted for. That still leaves 85 girls unaccounted for, though the figures could have changed as you read this.
In the wake of the tragedy, Governor Shettima offered a N50 million reward for any credible information that could lead to the girls’ rescue. The military, police and Department of State Services [DSS] also mounted a major security operation. Hundreds of soldiers were moved from all over the state and beyond. They surrounded and mounted searches in the now infamous Sambisa Forest, long known to be the insurgents’ hide out. Local vigilantes and hunters familiar with the bush terrain also joined in the search, as did distraught parents who picked up sticks and cutlasses and went after the well-armed terrorists, a sign of just how desperate they are.
The desperate search effort also produced the most embarrassing case of official misinformation so far in the Boko Haram war. On Wednesday evening, Defence Headquarters’ hyper active Operations Information Centre announced that most of the abducted girls had been rescued and that only 8 remained in captivity. This information was received with much relief and loud cheers all over the country, only for it to turn out to be utterly false. On Thursday, Borno State Government officials said no such thing happened. While the education commissioner carefully said he was waiting for the army to produce the rescued girls, the school’s distraught principal called the story a lie. The embarrassed Director of Defence Information Major General Chris Olukolade then said DHQ was “deferring” to the Borno officials’ account and “would not join issues with anyone.” He also said its “information” was received from the field of operations and they “had no reason” to disbelieve it.
Even though this misinformation was very embarrassing because it raised and then dashed Nigerians’ hopes for a speedy end to the girls’ travails, we will not join in the general bashing of the Army over this faux pas. The military is engaged in a very determined effort to rescue the Chibok girls and all hands must be on deck to lend to it any assistance that any citizen can. It is a doubly difficult and perilous operation because unlike normal military operations to destroy enemy camps, this is an operation in which all care must be taken to rescue the girls unharmed from the hands of very unscrupulous and inhuman abductors. The hope is that given the large number of the abducted persons and the fact that they are vigorous teenagers, the abductors would have a hard time concealing them from view for very long. The government should spare no effort, including seeking the assistance of neighbouring countries and friendly world powers to marshal the largest search-and-rescue manpower and the latest technology in this effort.
This is Nigeria’s equivalent of the missing Malaysian Airlines plane, a tragedy that befell not only the owner country but humanity as a whole. Just like all world powers are lending a helping hand in the search for the missing Malaysian plane, we expect all responsible powers and men of goodwill all over the world to help us in this search. We offer our heartfelt sympathies to the parents of the missing children, to the Borno State Government, to the President and to parents all over this country. We join all in prayers for a speedy rescue of the innocent and heroic Chibok school girls.
This is Nigeria’s equivalent of the missing Malaysian Airlines plane, a tragedy that befell not only the owner country but humanity as a whole. Just like all world powers are lending a helping hand in the search for the missing Malaysian plane, we expect all responsible powers and men of goodwill all over the world to help us in this search