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Tag: Chibok

  • Long overdue resolution

    Long overdue resolution

    It is unsurprising that the unreleased girls kidnapped in Chibok, Borno State, in April 2014, continue to make the headlines. The same is true of Leah Sharibu, the unreleased Christian schoolgirl abducted in Dapchi, Yobe State, in February 2018.  The whereabouts of these victims are unknown. The unresolved abductions mean that there is no closure. This is mainly why they remain in the news.

    The National Coordinator of the National Counter Terrorism Centre, Maj. Gen. Adamu Laka, brought up the matter again during a multi-agency meeting on anti-kidnapping, organised in collaboration with the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency in Abuja, on June 29. He made an effort to reassure the public that the authorities had not forgotten these unresolved abduction cases, and were still pursuing freedom for the victims.   

    Eleven years after Boko Haram abducted a total of 276 girls from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, 87 of them are still believed to be in captivity.

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    Also, Leah Sharibu was among the 110 schoolgirls kidnapped by Islamist terrorists from the Government Girls’ Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State, more than seven years ago. Sadly, five of the kidnapped girls reportedly died in captivity. Others abducted with Leah were set free a month after the incident. Those released were Muslims. Leah, the only Christian among them, was not released because she refused to renounce her faith and convert to Islam.

    On the Chibok and Dapchi incidents, Laka said: “Since when they were kidnapped, those who were rescued were not just rescued one time; It was a gradual process. Negotiations were conducted to get them out. Operations were conducted… I was in the theatre, and I know what the military and intelligence agencies put in to rescue the initial set of the Chibok girls.” He added: “We haven’t given up hope on them; some of them were married to some of the insurgents. Some have come out.”

    He continued: “There is the issue of this lady, Leah Shaibu. We are not always talking about it. It doesn’t mean we don’t care. It doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten about them. We are still on it. Our prayer is that the whole 87 or 80 plus that are left will be rescued by God’s grace.”

    Talk is cheap! The authorities must recognise the time factor, and that the resolution of these kidnap incidents is long overdue.

  • Three Chibok girls, 186 others bag AUN degrees

    Three Chibok girls, 186 others bag AUN degrees

    Three abducted Chibok girls who escaped from Boko Haram captivity and enrolled at the American University of Nigeria (AUN), Yola have graduated from the university with 186 others.

    The 189 bagged their first degrees in various disciplines during the university’s convocation ceremony on Saturday.

    Vice chancellor of the University, Dwayne Frazier, charged the graduands to uphold the tenets of the institution.

    He said the AUN is a developing university that prepares students on how to face their new challenges.

    “I have no doubt that you will excel because you have all shown resilience, determination, and commitment. These qualities will propagate you for the best even as you contribute to the development of the country,” he added.

    Guest speaker, Professor Mike Ozekhome, asserted that the AUN has proven that it can impact the world positively.

    Ozekhome told the graduands: “With the entrepreneurship lectures and training you have received here at AUN, you can create jobs for yourselves.”

    The 2023/2024 session of the AUN for whom the commencement (convocation) was held Saturday, had eight graduands awarded PhD, 10 with MSc, in addition to the 189 awarded first degrees.

    Ozekhome was honoured with a Doctor of Letters degree.

    The university said the honour is in recognition of his work in promoting peace, human rights, rule of law, and good governance in Nigeria.

  • Chibok: Destroying the future of our tomorrow?

    Chibok: Destroying the future of our tomorrow?

    The 10th anniversary of the abduction of 276 schoolchildren from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Nigeria, has again brought an eerie feeling of despair and panic. The anniversary is a high point as it has again shown the entire security apparatus of Nigeria as gravely inept and compromised. That’s what it tells us!

    The most important thing about Chibok is not just that it happened! As a matter of fact, it ought not to have happened! Instead, it is about what the country has learnt in ten years! People’s lives have been destroyed but it seems as if Nigeria has moved on! According to reports, “48 of the victims’ parents have died since the girls were kidnapped.” So far, 22 rescued schoolgirls were said to have come back, with 37 children. In any case, that the schoolchildren even have children is in itself a social crisis!

    Of course, things happen! But the difference between Nigeria and other countries is that, whenever things happen in sane climes, they are used as an opportunity for an advance – to improve society as well as prevent a repeat. A good example was the cholera outbreak in the Lagos Colony in 1922. Of course, people died! But the colonial government made a lot of improvements in sanitation and sewage drainage. Indeed, that’s what led to the establishment of the Environmental Health Officers or Sanitary Inspectors, famously referred to as ‘woléwolé’. Since then, things have been improving in terms of environmental conditions, though not as much as one would have liked or wanted. But what has the Nigerian government learnt from the Chibok saga and how has it been managing the people’s expectations? From the look of things, nothing so far!

    When the Chibok girls were abducted on April 14, 2014, it wasn’t taken seriously by the Goodluck Jonathan-led until Nigerians became confronted with the open truth. A cross-section of Nigerians even opined that Leah Sharibu happened under the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration because nobody supervised Defence spending and contracts. To them, lots of things happened under the immediate-past regime and those who reaped from the ruination of the country would not want to give up without fighting back. But for how long will the Bola Tinubu administration bear them?

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    Chibok! Dapchi! Kuriga! It is pathetic to note that the Safe School Initiative looks like just another scam! Yes, humongous sums of money were sourced from far and near for the scheme but how many of our schools have become safe through, say, parameter fencing? All the more reason President Tinubu must commission a Judicial Panel of Inquiry and an audit to carry out an audit on how the funds have been spent since inception, the impact it has made and the modus operandi for (its) revampment.

    Arguably, it is difficult to kidnap students from St. Charles Grammar School, Osogbo because it is in the metropolis but one doesn’t have to be a military strategist to know that Chibok cannot be too far from an exposed environment like Urban Day Grammar School in Ijebu-Jesa. Therefore, simple elementary common sense demands that the environment be cleared two miles before the school to dissuade criminal minds and tendencies. Have the handlers of our education system done that?

    Well, we can deceive ourselves as much as we like but it is unfortunate that the whole stuff has become what America’s 34th president, Dwight D. Eisenhower described as the Military Industrial Complex. In the words of the Singaporean author and political commentator, Chua Chin Leng, “When there is peace in the world, the Americans would have to create jobs for themselves, to make themselves useful again as responsible people, not warmongers and murderers, not merchants of war. There will be no one to buy their expensive war machine, no more needs for military gangs aka allies.” Of course, that’s why America has to be going around, looking for conflicts to win. Otherwise, how will ‘God’s own country’ keep its people employed? It therefore goes to say that, once we allow a conflict to take root, it becomes an economy. Tragically, Boko Haram and ISWAP have become part of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The only challenge is that it cannot be measured. To Nigerians, it has become a way of life on all sides; and it is fear-provoking!

    May the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us peace in Nigeria!

    Re: On ‘Afenifere and the progressive camp’

    I read your column on April 6, 2024 and I was impressed by the Afenifere story and the need to reawaken the Yoruba people and re-ignite the streak of development in a nation trapped in the tragic crossroads of development planning and elite complacency.

    It is unfortunate that the dynamics of time have left Afenifere behind. So, only ARG can chart a new path of visionary progress and renewed doctrine of socialism which the current generation can key into.

    ●Emmanuel Awe,

    Abeokuta, Ogun State.

    From what our gentleman (Mr Abiodun Komolafe) has written, it shows that he is an insider. I rejoice with him for being alive to reveal to Nigerians a fractional part of what he actually knew about ARG and our elders in Yorubaland.

    To all our elders, this is the actual time we have to make good use of our talented gentlemen. If we do, we are going to recover what we have lost as a result of our unfeeling attitude.

        ●Chief Olusola Fayemi,

    Osogbo, Osun State.

    As you have pointed out, the DAWN Document isn’t a separatist agenda; it’s for the social, economic, educational and psychological development of the Southwest.

    DAWN is all about charity beginning at home: if we can’t control the whole, let’s control and develop our region! So, the gospel of DAWN is the only way to go for the region to get back on track.

    Unless the DAWN Document is implemented wholeheartedly by the states; and, unless it becomes their guiding principle and working tool, the zone will forever be lost and wandering.

    So, Afenifere must first believe in the DAWN initiative. Until that’s done, it will remain a toothless bulldog and an insignificant wailing wailer!

    ●Gideon Ogunleye,

    Lagos, Nigeria.

    Hmmm! This is a deep and thought-provoking piece.

    But where did we lose it?

    Unfortunately, successive leaders are only interested in themselves, not communal togetherness.

    Many of the ARG members who have had access to power seemed to have forgotten where they were coming from.

    May God help us!

    ●Ahmed Lawal,

    Aramoko-Ekiti, Ekiti State.

    I like this good piece on Afenifere.

    But who breaks the Berlin Wall between the factional groups in Afenifere?

    My brother, Afenifere is no more!

    ●Dr. Jimoh Agboola,

    Osogbo, Osun State

    Those who inherited Afenifere only did so for political gains, not service to the Southwest. Since they’re not attuned to the attributes of its founding fathers, we can now see the effects of the absence of ideology on the part of those parading themselves as Afenifere/ARG.

    In the olden days, whenever Afenifere spoke, it was with one voice and the country would be shaken to its foundation. Unfortunately, that attribute has been sold for selfish interests! It is sad!

    One way forward is to collapse all the factional and fractional groups of Fasoranti, Adebanjo and ARG to become one old and bold Afenifere, because united we stand, divided we fall! This can be done by way of the Afenifere Peace Summit, involving the three groups.

    ●Chief Biodun Aguda,

    Iloro-Ekiti, Ekiti State.

    Is Tinubu a candidate of Afenifere? If not, it will be morally wrong for Afenifere to set Yoruba Agenda for the president.

    Besides, Afenifere is to protect and promote Yoruba Agenda. So, how on earth would a socio-ethnic organisation support a candidate outside its territory?

    ●Tunde A. Akinpelu,

    Ibadan, Oyo State.

    ● KOMOLAFE wrote in from Ijebu-Jesa, Osun State, Nigeria (ijebujesa@yahoo.co.uk)

  • 10 years since Chibok: Nigeria will no longer pay the price

    10 years since Chibok: Nigeria will no longer pay the price

    • By Bola AhmedTinubu

    Ten years ago today, 276 girls were abducted in the night from their school in Chibok, northeastern Nigeria. The attack by Boko Haram pricked the conscience of the world. From London to Washington, protesters held placards reading #BringBackOurGirls—the hashtag the girls’ families had posted to pressure their idle government into action. It would take almost three weeks for then-Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan even to make a public announcement. Critical time had been lost.

    When this March, 137 children were tragically taken from a school in Kaduna, northwestern Nigeria, the shadow of Chibok lay ever present. Why, Nigerians and the world asked, after the passage of a decade was such an atrocity still happening?

    This time, unlike Chibok, the girls and boys were brought back a fortnight later, the security and intelligence agencies deployed immediately to rescue them. Nevertheless, legitimate concerns over kidnappings persist in Africa’s most populous country. Success in Kaduna has brought families relief and praise for the military, yet the government bears no illusions: The scourge of kidnappings must be routed once and for all.

    It begins with recognizing the changing nature of the threat. Boko Haram translates to “Western Education is Forbidden” and reflects an ideological impetus as jihadi insurgents opposed to the very idea of a Nigerian state. Today, Boko Haram are splintered, and mass abductions are primarily the work of criminal gangs. There is no ideology here: kidnapping has become an illegal industry rewarded with ransoms. Within days of the Kaduna attack, the abductors were demanding 1 billion naira ($600,000).

    Nothing was paid. As president, I have been clear that ransoms stop. Resolution through payment only perpetuates the wider problem. This extortion racket must be squeezed out of existence. Meanwhile, the costs for perpetrators must be raised: They will receive not a dime, and instead security services’ counter action.

    But compressing the kidnap for ransom market only addresses the pull factors. If we are to avoid funneling the same people into other crimes that cause normal Nigerians to feel insecure, we must address the push factors: poverty, inequality, and a paucity of opportunity. Criminal gangs can find easy recruits among those without either a job, or the prospect of one.

    Some 63 percent of Nigerians are multidimensionally poor. They are bearing the economic consequences of a failure by successive governments to get to grip with the Nigerian economy. Fiscal and monetary albatrosses have grounded the country’s flight, when surging demographics demand high economic growth to just maintain current standards of living.

    Read Also: Chibok girls: Set up special task force to rescue remaining 90 girls, Clark tells Tinubu

    A decades-old fuel subsidy was exhausting paltry public finances. By 2022, the cost had ballooned to $10 billion—more than the government’s combined spending on education, health care, and infrastructure in a budget of $40 billion. Currency controls that artificially propped up the naira deterred investment and led to shortages of foreign exchange. For decades we have been financially ransoming ourselves. When my government took office last May, we faced a pile of debt obligations.

    Just as with kidnappers, we had to be tough with the economy. Unsustainable market distortions had to be removed. As expected, floating the naira caused it to plunge. Given Nigeria is a net food importer, the average shopping basket has consequently risen in price. The removal of the fuel subsidy, in a country where many businesses and households rely on generators for power, has also had far reaching effects. These reforms have caused pain across Nigeria; they are still painful. Yet there is no better alternative: These and other difficult reforms are necessary to arrest the economic rot that lies at the heart of insecurity.

    Green shoots are now visible. In the first quarter of this year, foreign currency inflows have almost matched those for the whole of last year. A multi-billion forex backlog at the central bank has been cleared, giving foreign investors’ confidence to invest in Africa’s largest economy, safe in the knowledge they can repatriate earnings. The naira has begun to stabilize after its initial downward trend and has made huge gains against the dollar.

    Talk of macroeconomics might seem remote from the challenge of insecurity. But without the fundamentals in place, it is impossible for an enabling environment where the private sector thrives, jobs are created, and opportunity is spread across the country. It is how we ensure children can go to school without fear.

    For any who may have doubted our direction, it should now be clear. There will be no more ransoms paid—not to kidnappers, nor toward those policies which have trapped our people economically. Nigerians, and their economy, will be liberated.

    • Tinubu is President, Federal Republic of Nigeria.
  • Chibok, Dapchi, Zamfara, Kaduna, Ekiti: Education at Crossroads

    Chibok, Dapchi, Zamfara, Kaduna, Ekiti: Education at Crossroads

    Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children globally at a whooping 20million and counting. This number is by far more than the population of most countries. In fact most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are far less in population as some countries are even less than two million. A country like Israel is less than 11million. By implication, the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria can be said to make up the population of some countries.

    The sad statistics did not build up overnight, several administrations at both state and federal levels in Nigeria seem to have paid little or no attention to the value of education and the priority attention the sector deserves. The United Nations mandates countries to allocate at least 26% of their annual budgets to education. Nigeria seems to have never complied with this and education has often got less than 15% of its annual budgets.

    The value of education cannot be over-emphasized. In a world ruled by ideas, technology and innovation, illiteracy and its attendant fallouts would continue to keep any country at a huge disadvantage.  Nigeria is not insulated from the outcomes of a largely illiterate population. The country is equally the poverty capital of the world and that has very far-reaching implications. Unemployment is on two digits and invariably productivity is equally low.

    The high insecurity in the country has impacted the socio-economic life of the citizens. The most dangerous impact of insecurity in the country can be seen in the educational and agricultural sectors. These two sectors bear the greatest impact because of the value they add to any country’s overall development and wellbeing.

    The Roundtable Conversation has since the Chibok School girls abduction been observing the proliferation of the abduction of school children from across the country.  Some of the Chibok school girls are still in captivity. Leah Sharibu of the Yobe Dapchi School Girls abduction saga is still in captivity. Some Zamfara school girls were abducted a few years ago so were many in Katsina state. There are no news about the therapy and other medical help at their disposal of the rescued ones. 136 school children were abducted in Salisu Tanko Islamic school in Niger state. In 2023, several university students were abducted from some schools in Nasarawa state just like many were abducted from some schools in Kaduna and Kebbi states.

    As at August 2023, a whopping ,1,680 school children had been abducted from Nigerian schools since 2014 and just a few days ago, some school children and their teachers were abducted from their school bus in Ekiti state. This equally comes at a period the state was mourning the killing of two of their monarchs by yet to be apprehended gun men.

    School abductions seem to have become the new target for terrorists who are obviously doing that for the financial gains as almost in all cases of the abductions, ransoms are sought and often paid. The revelation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) that some religious houses had been discovered to be laundering money for terrorists should be better handled to burst the bubble.

    Nigeria endorsed the global School Safety Declaration (SSD) on 8 March 2018. Minimum Standards14 was approved by the National Council on Education in August 2021. The Safe Schools Declaration (SSD) is a global intergovernmental political commitment that provides countries with the opportunity to express support for protecting students, teachers, schools, and universities from attack in times of armed conflict.

    The Roundtable Conversation would want to see a situation where the governments at all levels take education more serious than is presently the case.  The UNICEF initiative is targeted at keeping school children safe and comfortable enough to be nurtured in the school environment. The implication of the unsafe learning environment is huge and a country with the huge problems of development and illiteracy like Nigeria cannot afford to wring its hands as bandits terrorize innocent children whose welfare should be the priority of the different tiers of government.

    It is very disappointing that despite the existence of free basic education in some states of the federation, Nigeria still has about 10.5million out-of-school children between the ages of 5-14. What this shows is that there are disincentives beyond financial constraints on parents. The implication of the free reign of terrorists and bandits since the Boko Haram days in the North East is that many parents would rather nurture illiterate children than send them to school to be kidnapped.

    We would want to see more state governors who are the state chief security officers do more to key into the Safe Schools Programme either through improved physical infrastructure and more pervasive re-orientation that can be as reassuring as there are evidence to assure them of the security of their children in schools around them. It is heartbreaking to see how helpless children are as they seek education which is part of the rights that ought to be guaranteed by the state.

    Governments at the local, state and federal levels must work together to improve the general security situation in the country with a view to making education of children who by the way are the leaders of tomorrow a priority. Having a generation of illiterate or half-educated children in a 21st century world can only spell doom for a country almost on its knees socio-economically.

    The recent spate of kidnappings across the country is almost making it look like non-state actors are having an upper hand given that it looks like a thriving industry as desperate parents scramble around to source for the ransom money always demanded by the terrorists. The payment of ransom is a sign of helplessness and despite governments across the world claiming they cannot negotiate with terrorists or succumb to payment of ransom, the case is not always in black and white as most parents in third world countries like Nigeria often feel powerless relying on the state to protect and or rescue victims. The fact that some of the Chibok girls and Leah Sharibu are still with their abductors is a daily reminder that he who wears the shoe knows where it pinches. No parent who can would refuse to pay ransom to rescue their kids knowing that the state might not do the magic for them and their children literally.

    The I,680 school children plus the recent Ekiti school children that were abducted recently is a huge number to have been abducted since 2014. Nigerian education authorities must do more to protect every citizen and remove power from the non-state actors. The huge implications of increasing illiteracy especially in the regions of the country almost with an unacceptable number of illiterates are a ticking time bomb.

    Read Also: Chibok leaders call for security outposts

    In a country with weak border controls and poorly implemented immigration policies, surrounded by countries with increasing number of insurgents and terrorists, Nigeria might just be a supply ground for the increasing number of bandits, kidnappers and terrorists. The illiterate and dispossessed are very susceptible to mental manipulations.

    Nigerian Governors’ Forum must move from their natural inclination for self-preservation to use their power to find urgent solutions to the security of children in schools. There should be regional cooperative efforts to stem the tide. The political border creations must be blurred for regional solidarity. Sokoto, Kebbi, Kastina, Jigawa, Kano and Kaduna governors and traditional and religious leaders must collaborate to fight the scourge in ways that other regional blocs can copy too.

    The Nigerian political space must shrink its old ways to create collaborative efforts that can help secure the citizens. It is not enough to seek votes and to mouth promises during campaigns. The real leadership can only be experienced by citizens whose main need is security that seems largely absent. 

    The political elite in Nigeria must redeem themselves given that most of them all grew up in a different Nigeria which even though far from perfection  was relatively safe for children. The leaders own the children the freedom to be alive and to get education in the safest environment that would imbue them with a sense of patriotism that in turn guarantees productivity.

    The Nigerian political class should and must realize the value of investing in the future as their legacy given that they have all benefitted from the nation that protected them through school no matter their level till they acquired the political power which ought to be a position of service and giving back. It is quite ironic that most of the political leaders who were not only protected by the state but enjoyed huge educational scholarships in most stages of their education career.

    The Roundtable Conversation believes that security must be prioritized for all other things to thrive. Insecurity especially that that hits the core or a nation – its children. Every leader at any level must prioritize the welfare of the children. The value of any nation is gleaned from the nurture and security of its children. There must be a state of emergency declared for general  security as the sine qua non to development.  Non-state actors must be placed where they belong, for now, they seem to be wielding a scary power but our belief is that a change can decisively be initiated to stem the tide and secure the nation. Education is the most liberating and humanizing programme in the world.

    • The dialogue continues… 
  • Chibok leaders call for security outposts

    Chibok leaders call for security outposts

    Chibok leaders under the auspices of Kibaku Area Development Association have urged President Bola Tinubu to order the deployment of more troops to stem the resurgence of terrorists attacks in the area.

    The Abuja branch Chairman of the association, Mr Mutah Nkeki, made the call while briefing newsmen yesterday in Abuja, on the recent terrorist attacks on some Chibok communities in Borno.

    He said no fewer than 15 villagers had been killed by the terrorists in three separate attacks in the last two weeks.

    Nkeki said that it was imperative for the president to order the deployment of more troops to Chibok and surrounding villages to protect the people.

    Read Also: Fed Govt to empower Chibok community with N210m farming equipment

    He particularly called for the establishment of security outposts at Kwarangilim in Chibok West 2, Gatamwarwa in Chibok East, Shikarkir in Chibok South West and Kuburmbula in Chibok North East.

    Nkeki also implored the president to direct the military to re-enforce existing security points in Kwada-kautikari in Chibok East to halt the activities of the terrorists.

    He said that while the main Chibok town had remained safe, the surrounding communities have continued to suffer frequent attacks from the terrorists.

  • Fed Govt to empower Chibok community with N210m farming equipment

    Fed Govt to empower Chibok community with N210m farming equipment

    The Federal Government is to empower the Chibok Community in Borno with farming equipment and other skill acquisition accessories worth N210 million.

    Mrs Grace Njoku, the Head of Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Women Affairs, in a statement in Abuja yesterday, stated that the Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, made the government’s plan known when a delegation from Chibok community, led by its District Head, Ahmadu Usman, visited her in Abuja.

    She said the efforts was to revitalise the economy of the area, after the kidnapping incident of students from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok in 2014.

    She added that after consultation with the management of American University, Yola, it was agreed that 50 per cent of the money paid by the Federal Government as school fees for the kidnapped Chibok girls in the university be invested in the community.

    According to her, this will bring relief to the community from the psychological trauma experienced after the terrible incident, in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of the present administration.

    Read Also: Shettima hails youths as ‘pillars of today’ at awards gala

    She explained that “through collaboration, the American University will use the N210 million raised to buy industrial machines for milling of rice, corn and solar pumping machine for irrigation farming.

    “Also, fish grilling machine, sewing machines, tricycle trucks, among others, will be purchased to improve the community’s means of livelihood, as well as for socio-economic growth and development.”

    Dr Asabe Vilita-Bashir, the Director-General, Maryam Babangida National Women Development Centre (MBNCWD), said the gesture was to restore hope in members of the community.

    Vilita-Bashir urged the community to key into the project to improve members’ living standard.

    Responding, district head of the Chibok community thanked government for the assistance.

    Usman said the equipment would boost the economy of the community, assuring that the community would put them to good use for the benefit of affected families and the community.

  • On Chibok’s stolen daughters

    On Chibok’s stolen daughters

    A fantastic collaboration between Aisha Muhammed-Oyebode and ace photojournalist Akintunde Akinleye has birthed a unique book, ‘The Stolen Daughters of Chibok’. The book features interviews with 152 of the over 200 Chibok families affected by the April 14, 2014 schoolgirls’ abduction. It captures their lives before and after the abduction. 

    The book has contributions from ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, and ‘Fine Boys’ author Eghosa Imasuen. The book also has essays by Helon Habila and Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, two award-winning writers who have written books on the Chibok girls. There are other interesting contributions that examine germane angles.  

    In his foreword to the book, Obasanjo captures the permanent nature of the pain of the abduction. 

    “I had suggested that Nigerians and the world needed to come to terms with the reality that these lives had been irretrievably cut short. That we would never see these young women, these girls, in the way we remembered them. That in the years following this tragedy, they would trickle out of the forest with the scars, both metaphorical and physical, of their time in captivity. I was vilified for my bluntness,” the ex-president writes. 

    Mohammadu Sanusi II, one-time emir of Kano, in his contribution to the book, argues that the anger towards Boko Haram over the Chibok abduction should also apply to the condition of the Northern Nigerian Muslim girls. 

    Read Also: New insights into Chibok’s stolen daughters

    According to Muhammed-Oyebode, nearly all 107 freed girls are enrolled in a special programme at the American University in Yola. Four of the earlier fifty-seven escapees, who she now serves as their guardian, are attending a special programme in America. One returnee, Deborah Jafaru, Muhammed-Oyebode notes, declined a university education offer and is back in Chibok to be with the husband she married two weeks before she went to the school to resit her West African School Certificate exams and got kidnapped.

    Imasuen’s interview with Bukar Zannah Mustapha of the Future Prowess Islamic Foundation focuses on his role as an arbiter in the negotiations for the release of the girls. It offers poignant insights into the mediation that freed 103 girls.   

    The contributions of two psychiatrists, Femi Oyebode and Aishatu Armiya’u, focus on the mental health of the girls. They contend that adjusting back to the real world after days and years in hostage can be as difficult as leaving it.

    Bishop Kukah’s contribution to this remarkable book ends with a plea to the girls and their families to forgive their captors and see their scars as trophies.

  • New insights into Chibok’s stolen daughters

    New insights into Chibok’s stolen daughters

    In less than six months, it will be a decade since the April 14, 2014 Chibok girls’ abduction. A one-in-a-kind book has been published by New York-based PowerHouse Books. The book, The Stolen Daughters of Chibok, which is authored by Aisha Muhammed-Oyebode, with photographic illustrations by ace photojournalist Akintunde Akinleye, features interviews with 152 of the over 200 Chibok families affected and captures their lives before and after the abduction, writes United States Bureau Chief OLUKOREDE YISHAU

    Yana Galang, the mother of Rifkatu, one of the over 200 Chibok schoolgirls abducted on April 14, 2014, still cries each time she hears her daughter’s favorite song. Another thing that makes her cry is seeing the man Rifkatu was to marry. “Whenever he sees me, he bursts into tears and we cry together. He had to move on,” Yana recounts in one of the 152 interviews in the The Stolen Daughters of Chibok, a one-in-a-kind book published by New York-based powerHouse Books.

     Unlike Riftaku’s husband-to-be who has moved on, Yana is unable to move on. Every single day, she remembers her daughter and either fights back tears or allows them. Aisha Muhammed-Oyebode authors the book with photographic illustrations by ace photojournalist Akintunde Akinleye and contributions from ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah and ‘Fine Boys’ author Eghosa Imasuen. The book also has essays by Helon Habila and Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, two award-winning writers who have written books on the Chibok girls. There are other interesting contributions that examine germane angles.

     The book paints Chibok in the days before, during and after the abduction. It unveils the affected families, their lives and their sorrow, tears and blood. It also shows us that the tragedy was not just about statistics; it puts faces to it; and pricks consciences. The book shows the different shades of the tragedy, such as a mother who sees her daughter so lean in her dream, a mother who craves a dance with her daughter again, a grandmother who is unable to sleep in the room she used to share with her granddaughter, a mother who feels guilty for allowing her daughter go to school, the mother who went deaf on hearing of her daughter’s abduction, the mother who now hears noises in her head and the parents who feel that their daughter’s abduction means the light of their home has been extinguished. The book shows that 57 girls escaped days after the abduction and for two years, 219 girls remained missing but in May 2016, the first of the missing students, Aisha Nkeki Ali was found by the Nigerian military. One hundred and seven more have returned home. Four were freed by Nigerian military/para-military intervention, 21 through negotiated release in October 2016, and 82 more in May 2017. Switzerland and the International Committee of the Red Cross, according to the book, brokered the deals. Increasingly complicated negotiations between the Nigerian Government and Boko Haram continue for the 112 girls who remain captive. Yana is not alone in her grief. Hauwa Mallum, the mother of Kuma Solomon is on the same ship. She took her daughter to school because she didn’t want her to be an illiterate like her. “That decision eventually led to the loss of my daughter. She has been kidnapped by evil men who believe that Western education is a sin,” she says. There is an interesting ring to the case of Awa Sasa, who is still in the grip of the terrorists. Her mother, Pogu Sasa, didn’t want her to go to Government Girls’ Secondary School, Chibok, where she had dropped out after two years. Her objection to her daughter’s admission to the school wasn’t about Boko Haram threat.

     Her reason: “During my time there, there was hardly any teaching. The teachers were not teaching well. I felt that my daughter would be wasting her time by attending a school where I didn’t think she would learn much. I myself can’t speak English.” Asmathic Zara Ishaku is also still with the abductors and her mother worries who is taking care of her.

    “The teachers knew about Zara’s asthma and sometimes bought her drugs. Who will take care of her now?” she wonders.

    Panda Lalai, whose daughter, Kau’na. was also abducted is one of the lucky parents whose daughters have regained freedom. She was released from Boko Haram captivity in May 2017. While she was in captivity, Lalai did two things: prayed for her release and cried for her loss.

    “Sometimes it starts with a prayer and ends in crying and sometimes we cry and round that out with prayer,” she recalls in the book. 

    The parents of Rahila Bitrus also got lucky when in May 2017 she was also released. She was 16 when she was abducted and didn’t return home until she was 19. She loved education so much so that whenever she went to the farm with her parents, she went along with notebooks and a novel. Deborah Peter, who sold some of her goats to fund her education, is another of the set freed in May 2017, two years and 11 months after the abduction.

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    Also in this set is Mary Ali, the only one of 20 children to attend a formal school. “I do not believe that Boko Haram is Muslims. They are not humankind. We are Muslims,” her mother, Ngwakuma says. In his foreword to the book, Obasanjo captures the permanent nature of the pain of the abduction. “1 had suggested that Nigerians and the world needed to come to terms with the reality that these lives had been irretrievably cut short. That we would never see these young women, these girls, in the way we remembered them. That, in the years following this tragedy they would trickle out of the forest with the scars; both metaphorical and physical of their time in captivity. I was vilified for my bluntness,” the ex-President writes.

    Mohammadu Sanusi II, one-time Emir of Kano, in his contribution to the book argues that the anger towards Boko Haram over the Chibok abduction should also apply to the condition of the Northern Nigerian Muslim girls.

    According to Muhammed-Oyebode, nearly all 107 freed girls are enrolled in a special programme at the American University in Yola. Four of the earlier 57 escapees, who she now serves as their guardian, are attending a special programme in America. One returnee, Deborah Jafaru, Muhammed-Oyebode notes, declined a university education offer and is back in Chibok to be with the husband she married two weeks before she went to the school to resit her West African School Certificate Examinations and got kidnapped.

     Imasuen’s interview with Bukar Zannah Mustapha of the Future Prowess Islamic Foundation focuses on his role as an arbiter in the negotiations for the release of the girls. It offers poignant insights into the mediation that freed 103 girls. 

     The contributions of two psychiatrists, Femi Oyebode and Aishatu Armiya’u focus on the mental health of the girls. They contend that adjusting back to the real world after days and years in hostage can be as difficult as leaving it. Bishop Kukah’s contribution to this remarkable book ends with a plea to the girls and their families to forgive their captors so that they can enjoy the glory that comes with forgiveness. Their scars, he argues, can become trophies. 

  • Chibok, Dapchi girls, others not abandoned, says NSCDC boss

    Chibok, Dapchi girls, others not abandoned, says NSCDC boss

    • 48 kidnap attempts/attacks foiled in schools..

    The Federal Government and security agencies are on the trails of kidnapped schools boys and girls across the country,  the Commandant-General, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Dr Ahmed Audi, stated this yesterday.

    Audi said security agencies have keyed into the strategy adopted by the Federal Government to locate the whereabouts of the students who are still missing and ensure their safe returns to their homes.

    The CG spoke at the headquarters of the Corps in Abuja while briefing reporters on the forthcoming maiden National Summit on Identified Threats and Security Elements Affecting the Safe Schools Project in Nigeria.

    He said within the past few months about 48 kidnap attempts and attacks on schools  had been foiled by security agencies, especially in Zamfara and Nasarawa states,  while intelligence gathering had been enhanced to further nip such attacks in the bud.

    Audi said security agencies would continue to search for the missing Chibok, and Dapchi girls, asserting that neither the government nor security agencies have abandoned them to their fate.

    He said: “It is no longer news that education is known and described as the bedrock of any society. Globally, unfolding trends of events have however presented serious attacks on education with Nigeria as one of the countries badly affected.

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    “The abduction of 276 girls in April 2014 from Government Girls Secondary School Chibok in Borno State, 110 girls from Government Girls Science School, Dapchi in Yobe State, Bethel College Kaduna, Government Secondary School Kagara in Niger State and killing of school boys in Buni Yadi, Yobe State and Greenfield University Kaduna among other numerous attacks on education can attest to the prevalence of such attacks and consequences on the sector.”

    The CG noted that the establishment of the Safe Schools Initiative has reduced the spate of attacks in schools, stressing that more successes are being recorded across the country as a result of the project.

    According to him, over 1,800 security operatives and participants in the Safe Schools Initiative have been trained in the six geopolitical zones of the country on various mechanisms to ensure the safety and security of schools in Nigeria.

    Audi expressed the unwavering commitment of Security agencies to bring an end to attacks on education arising from banditry, kidnapping, armed conflict and terrorism, saying the summit would provide opportunity for stakeholders to further brainstorm and strategise on the issues.

    He explained that the summit which would begin on Thursday in Abuja at NAF Conference, Kado, would enlighten key relevant stakeholders on the coordination role of the National Safe Schools Response Coordination Center as a product of the financing of Safe Schools committed by the government.

    It would also foster a nationwide dialogue that seeks to present systematic reflections and offer practical advice for effective implementation of the Safe Schools Project, the CG added.

    He said besides the participation of all security agencies in the summit, over 300 other institutions and critical stakeholders are expected at the event.