It has been 100 days since more than 200 female pupils were seized from their school hostel in Chibok, Borno State, by elements of the nihilist Boko Haram terrorist outfit and ferried through the jungle of Sambisa forest to destinations unknown and fates uncertain.
Since then, the Jonathan administration in general, his dutiful and self-effacing wife in particular, and the dynamic and results-oriented President Goodluck Jonathan especially, have been the butt of malignant and unpatriotic gibes pouring ceaselessly from commentators, who could not see the result of the Ekiti governorship election, although it was staring them in the face just as it was tugging at the stomachs of the voters.
“#BringBackOurGirls” has been the constant refrain of some idle, unimaginative people, who cannot find better use for their time.
Instead of spoiling their spouses with good meals and tender loving care or baking cookies for their children or attending to their businesses or doing the laundry or cleaning house or tending their gardens or reading a good book or just taking a revivifying break from the daily grind, these people mill around Abuja’s manicured lawns and even spill on to the streets, to impede the flow of limousines ferrying high state officials to and from urgent state duties.
On one occasion, led by a former minister, they even tried to march on Aso Rock, for the purpose of handing to Himself the President a petition demanding more forceful action to bring back the girls.
The former minister used to have a reputation for good judgment. But her recent sojourn in the opulent offices of the World Bank, in Washington, DC, seems to have impaired her judgment, according to government officials speaking as usual on condition of anonymity.
But for the timely intervention of our ever-vigilant security forces, the misguided protesters would have succeeded in their nefarious scheme, the real object of which was to distract President Jonathan, divert public attention from the roaring successes of his Transformation Agenda and ultimately destabilise his administration.
It is to the eternal credit of the Jonathan administration that the law-enforcement authorities accorded the protesters far greater courtesy and consideration than the self-righteous and publicity-seeking protesters accorded the President of the Republic and his exalted office.
They are nothing if not pertinacious, these desperate do-gooders.
Only the other day they imported Malala, a young woman still traumatised by the wounds inflicted on her by Pakistan’s taliban, to lecture Dr. Jonathan on how to handle the terrorism convulsing northeastern Nigeria — the same Dr. Jonathan who, wearing another hat, is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Do these people hold anything sacred?
Among Malala’s jejune recommendations is that Dr. Jonathan meet the parents of the Chibok girls at the earliest opportunity. Some elements here have even gone further, urging Dr. Jonathan not merely to visit Chibok to see things for himself, but to go on to the dreaded Sambisa forest, home to some of the most ferocious beasts that ever roamed the earth.
Such stunts might capture the headlines and the front pages, but what practical purpose would they serve, really? What if some of the distraught parents vented their anger on the President, cursed him lustily and even attacked him physically, in full view of the global television audience? Is this what Malala and her misguided admirers want?
Why has Malala not arranged a meeting between the authorities of her native Pakistan and parents of the victims of the Taliban’s terrorism? If she is such a prodigy at conflict resolution, why did she not flush out Osama bin Laden who was living the good life in her country until the Americans caught up with him?
What is even more distressing is that Dr. Jonathan actually yielded to her entreaties and agreed to meet the parents of the Chibok girls – the same parents who have spurned his appeals for the kind of cooperation with the Federal Government that would have prevented the girls from being abducted in the first place, or resulted in securing their release within 100 hours at the most.
Such executive pliability ill serves the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Nigeria.
Before you know it, another girl – or a boy, for a change – could just parachute in from Outer Ruritania to demand the reinstatement of the impeached former governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako, as well as immediate and unconditional cessation of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) juggernaut’s plans to impeach a governor or a local council chairman operating outside its protective umbrella.
One hundred days is undoubtedly a long time to stay in captivity even in the most pleasant surroundings. In the infernal Sambisa forest, everyday must seem like an eternity to the unfortunate girls. But in the emotion-soaked debate on just how to proceed, many have lost sight of the elementary fact that rescue efforts take time and meticulous planning, and flawless execution.
Ask the Americans.
In what is now called the Iran hostage crisis, Iranian students protesting the admission of the deposed Shah to the United States for cancer treatment seized more than 60 workers of the United States Embassy in Tehran and held them hostage for 444 days.
This is not a misprint: Not 14 or 44, 114 or even 144, but 444 days!
The precipitate rush to free them ended in a disastrous failure in the desert, drained the Jimmy Carter administration of all vital signs and handed Ronald Reagan a sweeping victory in the 1980 presidential election.
That lesson may be lost on those armchair strategists seeking to goad him into launching a precipitate rescue mission, but it is not lost on Dr. Jonathan, an acclaimed student of world history and international relations.
The military authorities that were once misled into proclaiming that more than 100 of the Chibok girls had been rescued are understandably more cautious these days. They would say only that they know the precise location where the girls are being held and have perfected contingency plans to rescue them without putting their lives at risk.
That is much more substantial than the combined intelligence and rescue experts and the eyes in the sky that the United Kingdom, France, the United States, Australia, Israel and other nations have achieved since their deployment in Nigeria to help in the search for the Chibok girls.
And there is much more to come if only the National Assembly would be dutiful enough to approve President Jonathan’s request to borrow U.S. $1 billion to equip the armed forces to crush Boko Haram for all time.
But the disloyal opposition, the armchair strategists and their confederates in the media would hear none of it.
The money, they are claiming, is for more “stomach infrastructure” to help the PDP capture those states not currently under its control. In whatever case, why do you need a loan to equip the national army to fight an insurgency, they are asking. What has been happening to the vast sums of money voted year after year for the armed forces and “national security”?
Those asking this kind of question are compounding their lack of patriotism with sedition. By so doing, they unwittingly or, more likely, wittingly give aid and comfort to Boko Haram, and gravely undermine the Jonathan administration’s valiant efforts to stamp out terrorism not just in Nigeria but in the sub region, the region, and ultimately in the world.
President Jonathan is clearly on top of the situation.
