SPEAKING more like a soothsayer than a president, Dr Jonathan last week said the 2015 polls would shock the world for its freeness, fairness and peacefulness. How can he tell? The way he spoke mysteriously of shock, however, gave the impression he had something up his grandiloquent sleeve, much more than the mere aspiration and hard work required in bringing about a desired and perhaps unmerited political or electoral outcome. Then the Chief of Army Staff, Gen Kenneth Minimah, also spoke glowingly and floridly of his position as wartime army chief. It would have been more appropriate had he spoken of glowing successes recorded by his army against Boko Haram insurgents, particularly in Sambisa forest or in the rescue of the 219 abducted Chibok schoolgirls.
Tag: Chibok
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God will choose Jonathan’s successor, says Kukah
The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Dioceses, Rev Dr. Matthew Hassan Kukah ,has said the issue of who becomes the next President of the country in 2015 is in God’s hand and cannot be manipulated against God’s will.He said the utterances of some politicians and religions leaders in the country are diminishing others whose lives are in danger especially on the issue of the release of abducted Chibok girls.He noted that Nigerians must unite on the issue Chibok girls adding that the release of the abducted girls should not be left alone for the Federal government.Bishop Kukah spoke on Saturday at the on-going synod organised by Evo Dioceses Anglican Communion in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, with the theme: Politics, Christians and Good Governance in Nigeria.According to him, God who knows who will see tomorrow will determine who becomes the country’s next President and what Nigerians deserve.He called on the Christians to ask themselves questions on what role they have played in the release of the Chibok girls noting that Christians must exhibit certain principles in whatever they do.“The way we talk about issues affecting Nigeria is making everything to look as if we are at war with one another. We must mind what we say about the president and the country. Other African countries including develop countries are not happy with us yet we are not the worst country in the world.“As far as I am concerned, the ultimate is the peace of the country. Some people said the President is weak, they said he is sponsoring impeachment against his enemies, that he is encouraging BokoHaram all these are not our problem but a lasting peace,” Kukah stated. -
Chibok: we didn’t sell our daughters’ freedom
The Chibok community has debunked claims by some Nigerians that the Chibok parents sold the freedom of their daughters to the Federal Government.
They said their children are priceless and they would continue to advocate their safe return.
Chibok community spokesperson in Abuja Dauda Iliya said the thought of anyone assuming that is insulting to the parents.
He also said the community has settled the quarrel they had about money, as those back home now understood there was no money brought back to the village to distribute as earlier insinuated.
He said the money distributed in the community where some received N5,000 and others N7,000 was from the N1 million given to the villagers as Ramadan gift by a House of Representatives member.
Iliya spoke yesterday in Abuja, at the usual sit-out of the BringBackOurGirls protesters.
He said: “We are credible people, we couldn’t have come here even after a 100 days advocating for the girls to be brought back if money was the issue.
“Sometimes you may see villagers, people that are humble farmers at home and all that and given the security situation and displacement at home, you may say that some people may be swayed by money but some people are firm in the belief that money is a distraction and our core focus is the rescue of these girls.
“It is simply mischief and blackmail; I don’t know if you are a parent but I am a parent and I know the value of children. Children are priceless, it is insulting to us to insinuate such, there is no price you can pay for a child.”
He also said “there is no quarrel anymore, the mischief was around the fact of N1 million, which has been debunked completely, the people in Chibok where the entire mischief started also got to understand about the money that was shared to them where some of them got five or seven thousand, which they compared naturally with people that got a 100, 200,000 in Abuja.
“It became clear when they were told that no money was given to them in the village by the Presidential people.
‘’But a member of the House of Representatives gave N1 million at the hotel, which was handed over to the Chibok Local Government chairman.
‘’He took it and shared it his own way, how he came about the five or seven thousand naira is best known to him and those in Chibok’’, he said.
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‘Our Girls’; WS in Ibadan; FG/CBN/Bank fraud: All Nigerians are SMEs needing decreased interest rates
Our Girls’ are missing since April 15, and no sign of saving them except an unsavoury and unnecessary altercation between citizens’ groups and government. Government cannot throw every bomb, every kidnapping, and every complaint into the camp of other political parties and citizens’ groups. Every citizen, politician and non-politician, has a right and responsibility to use a non-political brain section to cry out for the return of ‘Our Girls’. The ‘Heroines of Chibok’ are already identified in ‘Our Girls’. There can be no new ones- Nigerians are raising a legitimate, non-political ‘Clamour and Cacophony for Chibok Heroines’ lest we are silent until they become Chibok Martyrs, God Forbid!
Why should the federal government create yet another corner-corner way to circumvent its own punishing interest rates by creating a N222 billion Small and Medium Enterprises – SME Development Fund? This is how the federal government gave preferential exchange rates to those who sold rice and cement and sugar eventually making enough money to become among the top richest Nigerians and men in the world. All Nigerian families are forced to be SMEs, NGOs and LGAs, lending to family members at zero interest. All Nigerians deserve an overall reduction in interest rate from 22-25% to a single tier 5-8% for all Nigeria citizens. Today preferential interest rates are for SMEs, yesterday it was Aviation, Textiles, Nollywood and Transporters. Meanwhile banks are suffering from an embarrassment of riches squeezed out of Nigerians as high interest rates. Enough is enough. Tomorrow federal government and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) should begin to reduce inter-bank interest rates for all transactions. This is syndicated corporate bankers crime, an organised bankers’ fraud manipulating the market and perpetrated on the citizens of Nigeria- pure and simple. NAME ONE COUNTRY WHERE THE INTERBANK RATE IS ‘12% AND BANKS CAN CHARGE 6-12% AS ‘HIDDEN ADMIN FEES’ ONE EVEN SME LOANS. In another country Nigeria’s banks would be fined billions of dollars for such fraud and our CBN would be blacklisted for anti-people activities. INSTEAD THEY MANAGE TO GET AWARDS WHILE THE PEOPLE GET POORER AND CANNOT BORROW KOBO! Shame.
In Ibadan, Professor Wole Soyinka was celebrated and hosted at an evening of readings@80 led by Professor Ayo Banjo, 80 himself, performance of a Playlet around the songs of WS and the great Tunji Oyelana including the immortal lines ‘I love my Country, I no go Lie, Na inside Um I go Live and Die’ under the direction of Dr Tunde Awosanmi. This was followed by an interview/ interactive session between WS and interviewers Yomi Layinka and Ronke Giwa and members of the audience all under the superlative supervision as Chairperson of Lady SAN herself, Chief Folake Solanke, SAN who at 82 was a fantabulous role model for the entire distinguished audience ably put together by Niyi Ige and Bankole and Femi Olayebi of Bookkraft which was reissuing several of WS’s autobiographical book titles Ake, Isara, Ibadan, The Man Died. Time was against us as my own planned and rehearsed reading and those of Prof Akinwunmi Ishola and Dr Pat Oyelola had to be forfeited. However the readings by Governor Ajimobi and the Representative of Governor Aregbesola were well delivered as was their contribution. The message –everyone should own and read at least one Noble laureate WS book.
The political parties have underserved Nigeria by using their political power to ram development through or subjecting it to ethnic and political domination. Even federal ‘might’ too often prevents the states’ right to develop. These are retrogressive political practices turned into festering federal-state and intrastate problems. Tell young Nigerians about the destruction of Jakande rail, with payment of $184million as penalty for a cancelled contract, and 50 year ‘ethnic economy’ driven murder of the rail countrywide to ensure the supremacy of trailer transport epitomised by the trailer lobby of ‘what will happen to us’ when Ogbemudia wanted to upgrade them. This federal ‘Stop Railways Agenda’ mischief destroyed us nationwide and especially at the Tin Can Island Port where gridlock backs up to Apapa and denies Lagos Port of international recognition as a ‘Container Port’ which demand a ’railway evacuation of containers’ and thus paralysing development in Lagos State.
It is obvious that the voter has declared war of the species ‘politician’, and now demands ‘stomach infrastructure’ upfront as down-payment for voting. First note that the Nigeria has survived through the ‘survival strategies in the urban jungle’ of millions working hard to live ‘for daily bread’ and coping with one to two years rent in advance, daily harassment by uniforms with the tax often stolen. And now here come the ‘wole wole’ sanitary inspector. Do not trivialise ‘seizure of goods’. The ‘seizure of goods’ is to a petty trader is as the seizure of a taxi and okada or computer to other workers. Petty products to a trader are a day’s earnings lost, guaranteeing hunger. Is it not strange that after the 7am to 6pm ‘no petty trading’ curfew at Mokolas, Obalendes and Sabos across Nigeria there is mass movement of petty traders to the road-side causing more traffic? And they are patronised even by the same ‘wole wole’ on their way home. Millions of Fellow Nigerians wrongly think the empty schools are fine and have never used and do not desire to ever use a toilet or borrow a book from a library. Civilisation and intellectual development are not part of their self-development agenda because their school background was rubbish. [To be continued]
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Chibok: In defence of President Jonathan
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.
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The power of ‘language’ movie
A sense of fake identity has permeated the Nigerian motion picture industry-the trend has evolved with today’s Nollywood, where filmmakers think the best way to get across their diverse audiences is by making films in the English language.
The model is wrong and the analysis is simple: if the Chibok secondary schoolgirls cannot (or so it seems) speak English, it is unlikely that Nollywood films in that area thrive (if they ever do) on other factors other than their language.
Also, if the average Yoruba or Igbo woman, who is known to consume the home video more is not so educated, then, that business model limbs.
My thinking is that since we all grew up watching Indian films -most of them without English subtitles- the power of effective communication, through films, rests more on motion picture than the spoken word.
So, what’s the big deal making a film in a language that we find difficult to speak so convincingly? Trust me, the lines which you think that a Nollywood actress or actor has delivered so eloquently may require subtitling for the white man to understand.
How many of us born and bred in this environment can claim to speak English so well? Even then, how many of us can speak our indigenous languages well? This merely shows that we are neither here nor there.
In fact, a movie in pidgin will be more exciting to people in the outside world than the pretence we call English language. After all, Slumdog Millionaire, which cleared eight awards at the 2009 Oscars, was produced in a language called ‘Indian English’.
I have interacted with journalists from Southern Africa, East Africa and South Africa, among other countries, where English is equally the official language, and have discovered how intimately they communicate in languages such as Swahili, Zulu etc.
I have so many of them as friends on the Facebook and I am usually thrilled to observe that during a chat, 90 percent of their remarks are in their local languages.
Most of them are so moved by a sense of nationalism that a guy from Kenya once asked one of their athletes why they prefer their interviews in English rather than in Swahili. This, to me, is like knocking the athlete hard because they would have been speaking to an international audience; yet, the guy’s curiosity underscores how some Africans still advocate a sense of traditional identity.
With my little knowledge of how ‘foreign language’ films are selected for film festivals and award schemes such as the Oscars, indigenous language is of great priority, if not the main criterion.
Little wonder that Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) had to drop the Best Indigenous Language category at some point, allowing all films, irrespective of language, to compete on a level-playing ground. After all, films, they say, speak a universal language. We will be indulging our filmmakers and making them lazier, if we make them believe that they are limited in any way, if their films are not shot in a popular language like English.
Taking an inventory of the AMAAs further, you will understand that ‘language’ movies have not done badly at all, taking into consideration the impression created by Seventh Heaven (Egypt), Apesin (Nigeria), Viva Riva (Congo) and Of Good Report (South Africa) etc.
Beyond Africa, it is instructive to note that the South African film, Tsotsi, which won an academy award for “Best Foreign Language” in 2006, was not done in English and neither is Slumdog Millionaire.
Our history may have failed us; our government may have failed us, but our filmmakers need to correct some of these wrongs.
I like this aspect of concern expressed by Alex Eyengho on how the N3 billion Project ACT-Nollywood grant should be disbursed. “More emphasis should be placed on production of contents in our indigenous languages. We think the percentage should be 90 percent to indigenous language films and 10 percent to films in English language. Our language is who we are as a people. Germans, French, Indians, Chinese, Italians, Japanese etc will never shoot their films in English language, yet they do well internationally. Some of our languages are going into extinction and one of the major ways of reversing this frightening trend is through audio-visual, especially Nollywood contents. Technology has made it possible for us to make films in any of our over 250 languages and still output it in any language we desire for specific markets. The National Film and Video Censors Board has the record of filmmakers in our indigenous languages. This grant must absorb them fully.”
In Paraguay, for example, majority of the population speak one indigenous language: Guaraní. It is enshrined in the Constitution, officially giving it equal footing with the language of European conquest, Spanish. And in the streets, it is a source of national pride. Indigenous people account for less than five percent of the population. Yet Guaraní is spoken by an estimated 90 percent of Paraguayans, including many in the middle class, upper-crust presidential candidates and even newer arrivals.
While other African countries are thriving in their indigenous language movies, the situation in Nigeria sees the Yoruba, Benin, Efik or Hausa filmmaker or actor as second fiddle. I read with amusement the thoughts that the reason Funke Akindele is prominent in Yoruba movies is because she cannot express herself well enough in English. This is a very low-thinking assertion.
The way we deal with indigenous language goes to the heart of how we see our communities, how we see ourselves and how we deal with the range of problems that exist in our communities. A man once said that English is the language that the natives use when they want to tell lies; the truth is better told in one’s indigenous language.
All said, kudos must be given to the likes of Tade Ogidan, Tunde Kelani, Lancelot Imasuen, Niji Akanni and a few others who are known for producing films in the Nigerian languages.
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Abia prays for Chibok girls
The Abia State government has held a prayer session for the abducted schoolgirls of Chibok, Borno State. The state asked God to intervene and cause the Boko Haram abductors to release the girls forthwith and without any harm.
The prayer was organised by the state government in collaboration with the office of the wife of the state governor in collaboration with the state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). Many clerics attended the session.
As the prayer session started in Umuahia, the prayers focused on asking God to destroy the Boko Haram sect.
Abia state Chairman of CAN, Bishop Goddy Okafor, said that even with the efforts of the Nigerian military and the foreign assistance that has poured into the country seeking for ways to liberate the school girls, the nation must pray fervently because “if we fail to pray now the worst will happen”.
Bishop Okafor said, “From what is happening now if we fail to pray; if we fail to stand our ground and call on the name of God nothing will happen we will lose it and the country and its people will be worse off”.
The cleric said that people should make themselves available to be used by the Almighty God to accomplish the task of liberating Nigeria from evil forces, by offering prayers without ceasing until the girls are released unconditionally.
The Abia CAN chairman described Boko Haram as a religious idolatry caused by people who read and misunderstood the Koran, and assured that the “evil cloud” precipitated by the insurgents would eventually clear through divine intervention.
Bishop Okafor urged Nigerians to rally around the families of the abducted school girls, saying no one should stand aloof, and urged them, “To put yourself in their situation and feel the same way these families feel in order to understand why everybody should get involved to end the Boko Haram menace”.
Intercessory prayers were said for God to touch the leader of Boko Haram sect to release the children they abducted and for peace, love and tolerance, accommodation and understanding amongst Nigerians as well as divine inspiration for citizens “to appreciate that security is collective responsibility”.
Wife of deputy governor, Lady Nene Ananaba, who represented wife of the governor, Lady Mercy Odochi Orji read the only Bible text taken from Acts 12 vs 1-11 in the event which also feature praise and worship.
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Activists to mark 100 days of Chibok girls’ abduction
A number of activities have been lined-up locally and internationally to mark the 100 days of the abduction of the Chibok pupils today.
In Lagos, there will be a service at the Wall of missing girls at Falomo roundabout at 4pm, a special sit-out ceremony at the Unity Foundation in Abuja and a news conference at the BRECAN Centre around 10am.
There will be a candlelight vigil at the Nigerian Consulate in New York. There will also be a similar event in India, Pakistan, the UK and most world capital cities where there are teachers, organisations in partnership with the UN Special Envoy’s office of Gordon Brown, according to a statement by the #BringBackOurGirls protesters.
The #BringBackOurGirls campaign team said “as days become weeks and months, the girls were separated from their parents and their community, our singular focus remains on their safe return in the shortest possible time.”
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Chibok girls… 100 days of sorrow, tears and deaths
Today marks 100 days since over 200 schoolgirls were abducted in Chibok, Borno State. About 57 of them escaped and re-united with their families. Close to 200 are still with the insurgents. About a dozen parents of the girls have since died, writes YUSUF ALLI.
When Boko Haram beat security agencies twice to their wits on April 14, the sect did not know that it will be plunging the nation to an unimaginable anguish. The dreaded insurgents had wanted to make a symbolic history with the abduction of 232 girls from the Government Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State to sound a warning to the military and the international community, especially the United States and the United Nations, that it had become entrenched. But to distract the attention of security agencies from the abduction venture in Chibok, the sect struck at dawn at El-Rufai Bus Stop in Nyanya (first Nyanya blast) killing over 71 people. Thereafter in the night, the belligerents sneaked into Chibok to seize 232 girls, who were about completing their final examinations.
Their mode of operation, which was strange to the nation, initially created doubts on their abduction. Even when the BringBackOurGirls campaign was launched out of sheer patriotism on April 30(16 days after abduction) by concerned Nigerians, including ex-Vice President of the World Bank, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, inborn fighter Hadiza Bala Usman, law-compliant Maryam Uwais and others of like minds, it was branded a gathering of crass opportunists. At a point the doubt assumed a dramatic dimension when the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan held a one-man court at the Presidential Villa leading to a welter of sudden tears and the coinage of a cliché, “Chai, Chai, there is God oh! Still undone, the police hounded the campaigners until reprieve came from the court upholding their right to protest or hold a sit out, a fake group emerged and fizzled out within a twinkle of an eye.
The global acceptance of the BringBackOurGirls campaign by quintessential leaders, such as President Barack Obama, First Lady Michel Obama, the United Nations and other world leaders jolted the Presidency into action. The hash tags of “BringBackOurGirls” became an instant global costume which people voluntarily wear till date. The international colour put the Presidency under pressure forcing it to look for a safe option of a panel to ascertain if and how the girls were abducted.
For a while, the Presidency lived under the illusion that there was no abduction until the Presidential Fact-Finding Committee, headed by the no-nonsense Brig-Gen. Ibrahim Sabo (rtd) cleared the air on June 20 that the sect really struck and seized 276 girls.
Sabo said: “Mr. President, the Committee here wishes to lay to rest any residual doubt whether or not any student was abducted at Chibok. There was mass abduction on the night of 14th April, 2014.
“During the siege on the school, 119 students escaped from the school premises, before the insurgents took away their classmates. A total number of 276 students were, thus, abducted.
“As of today, 57 of the abducted students have been reunited with their families after escaping along the zig-zag transport route taken by the insurgents, or by bolting to safety when the insurgents laid-by for a rest. Sadly, 219 students remain unaccounted for.
The findings of the panel have set the tone for a national solution to the Chibok girls palaver. Today the nation is searching for 219 girls.
The controversy was finally laid to rest by the leader of Boko Haram, Imam Abubakar Shekau on May 5, when he released a demoralising video saying: “I abducted your girls.”God instructed me to sell them, they are his properties and I will carry out his instructions.”
Since the abduction of the girls, it emerged yesterday, about a dozen of their parents have died.
What govt has done so far
On Sunday, the Federal Government released a document on what it has done to rescue the girls. The document reads in part: “Nigeria has the will, the resources and the strategies to win this fight. It will take time, but we are committed to this course. It is worth noting that we have already achieved some important successes:
•The Government has procured new equipment and technology towards strengthening the capability and support for the military and security forces, a recent delivery of such military equipment included highly sophisticated fighter helicopters with in-built night vision technology. We are developing an advantage in weapons and reconnaissance capabilities. So far, two (2) divisions of the Nigerian army are focused on the fight with troops on the ground.
•The Government has captured some senior-level Boko Haram commanders who are used as spies and treasury officials. These arrests have yielded valuable intelligence and have unearthed armouries which have been retrieved.
•In mid-July alone, Government forces apprehended three top-level Boko Haram targets:
• Aminu Sadiq Ogwuche, one of the alleged masterminds of the April 14 bombing of the Nyanya (Abuja) bus station that killed about 100 civilians, was arrested by Nigerian officials after securing his extradition from Sudan. Ogwuche is also accused of leading recruitment efforts for Boko Haram from his base in Sudan. Nigerian Intelligence officials have long been monitoring Nigerian extremists training with Islamist groups in both Somalia and Sudan, where al-Qaeda has a strong presence. Ogwuche is now in Nigerian custody and will face prosecution.
•Boko Haram chief of intelligence was picked up and is now helping investigation.
•Mohammed Zakari, a Boko Haram leader known as the “Chief Butcher” was captured during the Nigerian forces raid on Balmo Forest, during which they expelled Boko Haram insurgents from the area, effectively denying the terrorists a notorious haven and launch point for attacks.
• The Federal Government is cooperating with and empowering local populations across Nigeria in the battle against Boko Haram. Recent examples of the security forces’ successes resulting from this Government-citizen collaboration include:
•A recent Boko Haram threat against the Abuja transportation system was uncovered; the public was alerted and casualties were avoided.
•Following a tip-off, Nigerian police uncovered and prevented a bomb attack near a school in the north eastern city of Gombe.
•The Federal Government recognizes that soft power is crucial in the battle against Boko Haram; force alone will not defeat the insurgency. As a result, the Jonathan Administration is implementing a comprehensive programme of assistance to support, protect, and empower local communities, with a special focus on the most vulnerable areas of the country. Initiative includes:
• The Safe Schools Initiative has been developed to safeguard our school children in states under emergency rule by strengthening the security of educational facilities. These measures include providing perimeter fences, housing for teachers, community policing and school guards, alarm systems, and communication equipment.
• The Safe Schools Initiative is a collective effort. The Federal Government’s spending has been matched dollar for dollar by the private sector and now totals $20 million. The Federal Government’s goal is to create a fund of $100 million to support this programme and we have already received pledges of support from the UN Special Envoy for Global Education, the World Bank, the African Development Bank and other donors.
•The Federal Government has launched a Presidential Committee on Victims Support tagged “Nigeria Terrorism Victims Support Foundation” which is essentially targeting to raise $1 billion from a Public-Private Partnership in funding. This Presidential Initiative will mobilize resources and administer appropriate support to victims of insurgency and Boko Haram terror activities across the country. The Committee is Chaired by highly respected retired General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma, an accomplished business man, philanthropist and patriot who had supported similar public causes with resounding transparency and enormous goodwill in the past.
•Similarly, over the long term, the Federal Government is developing a comprehensive economic empowerment plan for the region — the Presidential Initiative for the North East (PINE).
After 100 days: What next?
The question on the many lips of Nigerians is: Will the girls ever be found? The nation had been at the crossroads since April on how to rescue the girls from Boko Haram Gulag. There had been issues revolving around the capability of the military to confront the sect and set the girls free. Contrary to insinuations, there had been reports indicating that the military has the wherewhittal to tackle Boko Haram. The Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, said: “We want our girls back, I can tell you our military can do it, but where they are held, do we go with force? Nobody should say Nigerian military does not know what it is doing. We can’t kill our girls in the name of trying to get them back. So we are working. The President has empowered us to do the work and no one should castigate the military. The good news for parents of the girls is that we know where they are but we cannot tell you. We cannot come and tell you the military’s
secret. Just leave us alone to do our work. We are working to get the girls back. The fight against insurgency is quite different from a full scale war. If we are fighting an external war, Boko Haram would have been begging us to withdraw. Nigerian military had proved its worth in the civil war, Liberia and Sierra-Leone wars and in the process returned democracy to those countries”.
In spite of the assurance of Badeh, the situation got to a point that offers came from the US, Britain, France, Sri-Lanka and others. But these international forces have also realized that the terrain is actually difficult. But the international community is not giving up. The French President hosted a meeting of Presidents of Chad, Cameroon, Niger Republic and Benin Republic in Paris in order to create a strong regional cooperation against terrorism. This is already yielding results with Cameroon coming hard on Boko Haram which had always used its territory as a base.
Why military is yet to
invade Sambisa Forest
For tactical reasons and to minimise collateral damage, the military has restricted the battle to free the girls to Frontline Areas comprising mostly of the precincts of Sambisa Forest. The battle of Sambisa edges had yielded some dividends like arrest of Boko Haram contacts/ links, discovery of transit routes of the sect, and attacks which have left more than 500 members of the sect dead. Speaking with State House correspondents, shortly after a National Security Council (NSC) meeting presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan, the Director of State Security (SSS), Ita Ekpeyong said: “The issue of Chibok girls, government is making efforts.
“We know where they are but we don’t want to endanger their lives, that is the truth, we want to take it ?gradually and release them at the appropriate time. We know where they are, you can go to bed with that.”
But Nigerians are unconvinced; they want the military to take the fight to Sambisa Forest. Leading the pack is a former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma, who shocked President Goodluck Jonathan, in a post-inauguration address as the Chairman of the Victims Support Fund. He told the President and the audience at the Presidential Villa that “Mr. President, we won’t go to Sambisa Forest. As the Commander-in-Chief, you should take the lead and we will follow.” The message was succinct but frank as a wake up call that the President should do more to curtail Boko Haram.
Options available to
the Presidency
There are three options available to the presidency to rescue the girls. These are outright launching of full-scale war against Boko Haram by taking the battle to Sambisa Forest; swapping of detained Boko Haram members for the abducted girls and amicable settlement involving payment of ransom. The international community and military hierarchy are opposed to payment of ransom and Nigerians are also sharply divided on which path to tread. A source in the presidency said: “The government has continuously restated its position and willingness to dialogue with the sect. To demonstrate this fact, it set up the Turaki Committee, which went round the country especially the North East with a view to eliciting a discussion with members of the sect. It would however not subject the release of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls to prisoner swap.
“Although it has remained committed to dialogue, it will explore only the best options possible and available to it with a view to achieving the release of the girls and stopping insurgency in its track.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Waziri Tambuwal, however last week said: “If negotiation is what would bring back for example Chibok girls, for goodness sake, let us negotiate with them.”
Will the girls be rescued before the next 100 days?
Will the girls ever be rescued? No one has the answer other than the Commander-In-Chief whom Nigerians will now hold accountable. At a meeting with 51 of the abducted girls and some parents at the Presidential Villa yesterday, President Goodluck Jonathan offered the nation a ray of hope.
He said: “Anyone who gives you the impression that we are aloof and that we are not doing what we are supposed to do to get the girls out is not being truthful.
“Our commitment is not just to get the girls out; it is also to rout Boko Haram completely from Nigeria. But we are very, very mindful of the safety of the girls. We want to return them all alive to their parents. If they are killed in any rescue effort, then we have achieved nothing.
“Our duty now is to take all relevant steps to recover our girls alive and our primary interest is getting them out as safely as possible. I will not want to say much, but we are doing everything humanly possible to get the girls out.
“This not the time for talking much. This is the time for action. We will get to the time that we will tell stories. We will get to the time that we will celebrate and I assure you that, by God’s grace, that time will come soon.”
This is a bond the President has entered into. Will he walk the talk? Nigerians leave Jonathan to history.
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BringBackOurGirls to mark 100 days of girls kidnap in Abuja, Ibadan, New York
The BringBackOurGirls campaigners will today mark the 100 days of the Chibok girls’ abduction with programmes in Lagos, Abuja, Ibadan and New York.
A statement by the group endorsed by Hadiza Bala Usman, Oby Ezekwesili, Aisha Oyebode, Yemisi Ransome-Kuti, Betty Anyanwy-Akeredolu, Amina Hanga, and Eleanor Ann Nwadinobi reads: “Wednesday, July 23rd will mark 100 days since 276 girls were savagely abducted from their school in Chibok, Borno State. 57 escaped and 219 remain in captivity. The families and community have suffered deep anguish seeking effective rescue to end the peril that befell their daughters who had gone to school in search of knowledge.
“In those 100 days, the Bring Back Our Girls Campaign has focused on creating awareness of the abduction to ensure that it is a priority issue requiring action and compelling the right sets of action for a positive outcome. We have engaged various stakeholders – the Presidency, the National Assembly, the office of the National Security Adviser, the Chief of Defense Staff, the Borno State Government & other State Governments, ECOWAS member countries and UN agencies to name a few.
“Through our various meetings, our singular message has been to demand that the Federal Government perform its fundamental duty of ensuring the security and the welfare of its citizens. As we denounce the wave of terror and insecurity across the country, we continue to demand that the Federal Government deploy its resources to ensure that the missing girls are brought home, and the errors leading from three-weeks of delayed action are remedied.
“To amplify our voices in demanding that these girls be brought home now and alive, on the 100th day, there will be a variety of activities around the world. These include:
o Ibadan: Press Conference at the BRECAN Centre at 10 am;
o Abuja: Special sit-out ceremony at the Unity Fountain at 3 pm;
o Lagos: Remembrance service at the Wall of Missing Girls at Falomo Roundabout at 4pm;
o New York: Candlelight vigil at the Nigerian Consulate at 5.30pm.
“There will also be events in India, Pakistan, the UK and most world capitals where there are teachers’ organisations in partnership with the UN Special Envoy’s Office of Gordon Brown. Organisations participating are World at School, Girls not Brides, Global March Against Child Labour, Walk Free, Educational International and ITa.”