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Hajiya Bilkisu Sambisa: Rescuing our girls

The Nigerian military said in a terse statement on April 28, 2014 that it has rescued 200 girls and 93 women from Sambisa forest, a stronghold of the Boko Haram insurgents in Borno state. The statement was made by the military on its twitter handle. The defence headquarters knows that the core of our advocacy is directed at bringing back our girls so it quickly took the breath out of our mouth by saying it could not confirm the identity of the freed victims and their origins. It could therefore not state if any of them was from Chibok until thorough screening and proper investigations had been completed. The Chibok Girls just have to be in this group because some of the girls, we were told have become women. Is it possible that the girls are among 93 women who were also rescued?

Sambisa forest became notorious when 276 school girls were kidnapped from Government Secondary School, Chibok, in Borno state on April 14, 2015 some 57escaped from their abductors but 219 are still missing! The world was shocked, advocates wept, parents were traumatised; communities were destabilized and school girls scared that it could have happened to any one of them. Some parents said they would not let their girl children go to boarding schools some said all schools, including day schools, are at risk. That singular act of abduction has set us some twenty years back in our advocacy work for promoting girl child education in Northern Nigeria. We wept even more. So what happened after the girls were abducted from their schools? We heard stories of sexual abuse, forced marriages, gang raping of girls and other human rights abuses, forced labour as they transformed into cooks and cleaners, denial of education, forced conversion, isolation from loved ones and other forms of deprivations that only the victims of the abduction can relate.

What other stories did we hear? We were told that the girls were kept in three camps in Sambisa forest, while another group was ferried across the lake and stationed in the Cameroun. We also heard that some of them have been married/ sold as ‘slaves’ to other men who were not insurgents who have taken them to neighbouring countries. We also wondered where the insurgents got the female suicide bombers, most of them young girls, who they sent to communities to unleash bomb attacks on the people. They targeted heavily populated areas, schools, petrol stations, motor parks, markets and places of worship. The development instilled fear in us and we became suspicious of those we interacted with. We have now developed the habit of doing security checks at places of worship, weddings and even funerals!

Before the Chibok girls were kidnapped, many girls and women had been abducted when Boko Haram insurgents invaded and occupied their communities. However it was the abduction of the Chibok girls that catalysed local action and sparked a global reaction. In cities across the world, citizens joined the campaign to demand the rescue of our girls and the international community pledging to assist Nigeria in securing their freedom. However all efforts to rescue them did not yield the desired result until two days ago.

When the pressure for the return of our girls intensified, the National Orientation Agency stepped in to provide information. Mr Mike Omeri, the directorgeneral and coordinator of the national information centre, told the participants at a security briefing on April 15, 2015, that operations were going on in Sambisa and the areas where the Chibok girls are believed to be held. Col Sambo Dasuki (rtd), the national security adviser also assured Nigerians that security agencies would enter and liberate Sambisa forest before May 29, 2015, when President Goodluck Jonathan would hand over to Muhammadu Buhari the president elect. The NSA said “all Boko Haram camps, except Sambisa forest, have been destroyed,” That assurance from the NSA raised hope and also set tongues wagging. Why did the military wait till this last lap of the present administration before moving into Sambisa forest? Given its track record of performance in international peace keeping, why was the military unable to tackle an insurgency fuelled by a rag tag army? Why were the insurgents better armed while the military was underfunded, and ill equipped to confront the insurgents in spite of the huge security budgets supposedly voted to fight the insurgency?

After the NSA raised hopes that the imminent liberation of Sambisa forest and we were already dreaming of being united with our girls, our hopes were dashed.

On April 23, the media reported that soldiers were retreating from Sambisa after three civilian Joint Task Force (JTF) members were killed by a land mine believed to have been planted by Boko Haram members. However, the defence headquarters (DHQ) refuted the reports, claiming that its operations were making progress and conquering areas.”

Amazingly, the military successes being recorded as they enter Sambisa forest to rescue abducted women and girls is coming exactly one year after the abduction of the Chibok girls. Before the news of the recent rescue of abducted victims we have been commemorating one year of the sad events with reflections, intensive campaigns. As you read this piece, the Bring Back Our Girls (#BBOG) advocates a organizing an event at This Day Dome in Abuja’s Central Business District on April 30 2015.The guest lecturer is Cardinal John Onaiyekan, the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja . The panellists are, Ms Yemi Adamolekum, Mr Chide Jideonwo, Dr Manaseh Allen and my humble self. The event will be moderated by Mr Kayode Akintemi. It begins at 9am. Please join us to #BBOG.

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