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Dapchi kidnap terrible, says U.S.

•Governor ‘okay with Fed Govt’s response’

The United States has described the abduction of 110 Dapchi schoolgirls as “horrendous, unacceptable and terrible”.

Department of State officials stated the U.S. position yesterday during a background briefing ahead of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s first trip to Africa.

Tillerson is due to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari and leaders of Chad, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya between today and March 13.

The officials described Nigeria as critical to the stability of West Africa and the future engagement of the U.S. in the subregion.

They pledged continued U.S. commitment in the fight against the Boko Haram terrorists.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the official said “on Nigeria, this – fight against Boko Haram – is really an important issue.

“And I know that in the last administrations, even the last three, we have always said going to Nigeria is critical to stability and the future for the U.S. relationship in West Africa.

“We are following the recent kidnappings of 110 school girls, which really kind of follows up on several years ago of the Chibok girls.

“And those are horrendous, they’re unacceptable and terrible.

“But the issue that comes in, it’s not only a security issue – and it is a terrible security challenge – but it’s also political issue and really building those institutions and political dialogue between north and south, and also with the region.

“And so those are some of the things that we need to look at. It’s a comprehensive approach. The other issue, too, is on economic development and education.”

The U.S. noted recent UN reports about some of the extremist operations in the G-5 countries and the Trans-Sahel.

The department, however, regretted that the operations of some of these criminal groups were “about getting jobs” and “about looking at getting an income for families”.

“And if terrorism or trafficking of persons, if that’s going to get them the jobs, then that’s unacceptable and we really need to find alternative ways to help the economic development in these regions.

“And so those are some of the issues and challenges that we’ll be working on – political institutions, political dialogue, reconciliation, supporting community-based development, helping growth, education.”

It said another issue was enhancing the security, particularly in the North, saying “it just can’t be constantly a kinetic strike operation or bring in U.S. military”.

“That’s not the answer. The answer has to be developing institutions and also providing good police training, military training, and having governments accountable to the people and having people really have faith in their institutions, and also having opportunities for job creation.

“And what happens in Nigeria is going to affect the Lake Chad region, and that includes Cameroon as well as the G-5 countries.

“So those are some of the things that we’re looking at, much more broad-based, comprehensive, and really interrelated with security.”

The U.S. added that Nigeria’s 2019 general election and a peaceful transition remained its major priority in view of the country’s strategic position in the region.

The department said over two decades ago, the number of countries in Africa with really democratically elected government was really very few – only three or four.

It said, however, now we had over two dozen African countries with democratically elected governments and which are hopefully not going to have transitions in government through coup d’etats and other illegal methods.

“As we look at the 20 elections, obviously Nigeria, though it’s not this year – it’s going to be next year – that really is a major priority focus, because that’s going to be the third most populous country in the world by 2050.

“It has really very complex political issues and ethnic and tribal issues and security issues,

“And that’s an area that we really are focusing on how to do a peaceful transition, a democratic transition, but more important is how to hold governments accountable to the people,” the State Department said.

The department explained that, obviously, a lot of those African countries were still fragile democracies and the U.S. was trying to strengthen them.

The U.S. commended the most recent elections in Liberia, saying it was the first open, fair, and peaceful transition of governments in over 75 years, saying that is a good thing.

It regretted what it called the “horrendous rule of Charles Taylor and the degradation of the institutions there, but now we’ll going back and they’re building, and I think with the election of George Weah that’s going to be a positive thing”.

The U.S. also noted the election of Nana Akufo-Addo in Ghana, Alassane Ouattara in Cote d’Ivoire and Macky Sall in Senegal, describing them as positive developments.

It said, however, that Ethiopia remained a challenge for the U.S. and a focus for it as well and an opportunity.

The U.S. explained that it was looking at trying to build institutions, really strengthen institutions, and also have peaceful transitions and hold governments accountable to the people in Ethiopia.

It said it was also looking at how it could have reconciliation and dialogue among all of the various groups – the Oromos, the Amharas, the Tigrays, and also in Kenya with the opposition and with the ruling government.

Accordingly, the department said building strong institutions and holding governments accountable are some of the things that are certainly going to be the subjects of discussion during Tillerson trip.

“How do we advance political and economic reform that will help in the transition process? Those are issues too that we’re working in Zimbabwe with the transition between Robert Mugabe and Emmerson Mnangagwa.

“And also we’re looking hopefully at South Africa with the election of Cyril Ramaphosa from Jacob Zuma and seeing how that’s going to transition,” the State Department said.

March 6, 2018
Dapchi tragedy

Are Nigerians mere pawns in a hideous game? Could it be that there are persons who have untrammelled powers to turn our face back, front or sideways at will, regardless of our discomfort? Are there forces beyond the control of state officials propelling our country? Or are we just victims of gross incompetence of state officials governing a pretender to a modern state?

Who has answers to the devious happenings in our country? Who has an answer on the whereabouts of the missing 110 (or is it 105) teenage girls, kidnapped by the Boko Haram sect from Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State on February 19? Who will console the parents and relations of the maidens, now in the cold control of the dreaded Boko Haram? Who will save our country drifting heedlessly in a turbulent sea?

Nearly four years ago, we had situated the calamity that befell our nation, when Boko Haram abducted in a similar manner 276 girls from Borno State, to the gross incompetence of President Goodluck Jonathan’s government. Now under President Muhammadu Buhari’s government, which rates security as its best achievement, the sect has with reckless abandon carried our girls away again.

To show that we are back to troubling times in the northeast of the country, the sect struck again late last week at Rann community in the Kala-Balge local government area of Borno State killing three United Nation’s workers, three soldiers and scores of others whose identity is yet unknown. The sect also abducted Red Cross and other aid workers taking care of Rann community of 80,000 people and 55,000 internally displaced persons. Now, in fear, the aid workers have abandoned Rann.

Could it be that we celebrated the defeat of Boko Haram too early, or are there persons who have dubiously turned our misery into business, or are we just victims of cyclic incompetence in governance whether under Jonathan or Buhari? What do we make of the allegations and counter allegations between security agencies over who did what to aid this tragedy?

Sometimes I wonder at the complacency of those in position of authority in our country, especially when by their conduct it will be right to regard them as disinterested in taking steps to save of our country from the grave dangers facing it. The Jonathan’s government was rightly accused of complacency after the Chibok girls were abducted, and yet a supposedly security-conscious regime has been caught in the same mesh.

Now after initially playing the ostrich by pretending that there is absolutely no need to restructure Nigeria, the ruling party through the El-Rufai committee, lately identified the need to devolve economic and security powers to states to stem our descent into a failed state. Instead of declaring a state of emergency and organising urgently to give this proposal the attention it deserves, the leadership of the country relapsed into complacency, and now Dapchi and Rann punches our groin.

Could it be that our country is a tragedy waiting to happen? Instead of taking steps to amend the constitution and also deal with the neglected herdsmen menace, the Buhari government will spend the rest of its term fighting the renewed insurgency in northeast and to campaign for re-election. While effort to amend the constitution may not have stopped the Dapchi and Rann tragedies, it will at least save us the future tragedies that will come unless we change our security apparatchik.

If our leaders care less about their re-election and a little more about the future of our country, they would unite to make our country more productive and more secure. At least there is agreement across party lines that state governors should have more economic opportunities, as well as some control over state security. Surely, it rankles that a chief security officer of a state has no control over any policeman.

With disproportionate police protection, the military have been drafted to engage in police work, with all the dire consequences over professionalism of our army, while the police are neglected. Of course, any talk about creating state police without a corresponding devolution of economic power to states is bunkum. When more than two-thirds of the states cannot pay their workers as constituted, where will they gain the resources to pay and maintain a disciplined police force?

But do we have any option than to urgently devolve security powers to states, if we hope to continue as a viable nation state? Of course we don’t, and unless the Buhari government wants to be accused of complacency in the face of grave dangers, it should without any further hesitation set in motion the process of devolving the few economic and security powers that the El-Rufai committee which his party set up, grudgingly agreed on.

With the doubts that the re-emergence of Boko Haram terror is creating in the minds of Nigerians despite the claim of technical defeat by the federal government, joining the limited achievements of the federal government in fighting corruption, even as opponents of the Buhari government continues to regale its failure in the management of the national economy, are there conspiratorial forces bent on bringing the government to complete disrepute as the 2019 general elections draws near?

Perhaps the federal government will have to depend on Mama Boko Haram, Aisha Wakil, to help it rescue the Dapchi girls, just as it relies on Alhaji Aliko Dangote to help it solve the importation of fuel debacle. Hear Wakil: “I can assure Nigerians that so far they are with my son, Habib, and his friends; Habib is a nice guy, he is a very nice boy. He will not harm them, he will not touch them.”

She went on: “I love them for that and believe what they said on this”. On the release of the girls, Wakil said: “They will definitely give us the girls. All I am begging Nigerians is to calm down, be prayerful, everything will be over in God grace”. Hmmm, after nearly 10 years of Boko Haram menace and nearly three years of being in power, the federal government now led by President Buhari is at the mercy of a loving mother, whose lovely children are ardent at kidnapping teenage school girls for ransom. What a tragedy.

With Buhari government successfully negotiating the release of some of the Chibok girls and the University of Maiduguri lecturers, after paying huge ransoms in dollars as reported in the papers, is there a possibility that kidnaping and releasing the kidnapped under the banner of Boko Haram has become a huge racket for state actors? Perhaps that explains why the Buhari’s government has apparently become a lame duck presidency well before the last year of his presidency. Since our leaders have become helpless, shall we all troop to the worship centres to pray as Mama Boko Haram admonished us?

March 6, 2018
Dapchi girls: Presidential committee visits Yobe

Gov. Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe has called on the Federal Government to intensify aerial survelliance to rescue the abducted Dapchi schoolgirls and enhance general security of the state.

Gaidam made the call on Monday when the Presidential Committee to unravel circumstances surrounding the abduction of the students of Government Girls Science Technical School, Dapchi, visited the state.

He commended the Buhari Administration for its committed zeal in fighting insurgency in the North-East.

He said the visit by four different delegations sent by the federal government underscored the commitment of government to rescue the schoolgirls.

The governor also commended to the Nigerian Army for acting with dispatch and realigning the check points in Ngelzarma and Damagum to beef up security.

“I am optimistic that with the kind of inspiring concern exhibited by the federal government, other patriotic Nigerians and indeed, the international community, we will intensify our efforts until all the girls are found.”

He lauded the efforts of security organisations, which he said, had recorded unprecedented success to the admiration of all.

According to the governor, the Police and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) have deployed their personnel to schools across the state to build more confidence in the parents and students.

Gaidam solicited for comprehensive strategy to mop up the remnants of Boko Haram insurgents in the North-East.

The Chairman of the committee, Rear Admiral Victor Adedipe, said they were in the state to dialogue with stakeholders to uncover circumstances surrounding the abduction.

He said that the committee had interacted with the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, the Theater Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole and other senior military officers engaged in the operation.

He listed the committee’s terms of reference to include: to ascertain the circumstance of the abduction, determine the exact number of persons abducted, confirm presence and disposition of security operatives and communication facilities in Dapchi.

Others are: to suggest to government, measures to locate and rescue the students, measures to forestall future occurrence and recommend any other measures that can assist the government.

Meanwhile, the Dapchi Youth Development Association has declared total support for the ongoing efforts by government to rescue the schoolgirls.

A communique signed by Alhaji Baba Shehu, Secretary of the association, called for engagement of all parents of the schoolgirls by government committees.

“While rescue efforts are ongoing, we urge Yobe Government to decide in earnest the fate of the over 800 girls that escaped the abduction and returned home following closure of the school, “it said.

NAN

March 5, 2018
Ending Chibok and Dapchi crisis

Several reactions have continued to trail the attack on the Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State by Boko Haram insurgents where no fewer than 110 girls were abducted from their dormitories.

This was after a shooting occurred in the school premises as the girls were observing Maghrib (sunset) prayers, breaking their voluntary fast and getting set for supper.

Robert Ogbogu, Team Lead, at Locate Initiative for Missing and Exploited Persons (Locate NG) believes that sad occurrences like this can be better avoided.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with our correspondent, Robert laid claim to the International Humanitarian Law which binds countries of the world to account for missing persons in domestic and international armed conflicts.

“The International Humanitarian Law Rule 117 significantly binds countries to account for missing persons in both international and domestic armed conflicts and Nigeria is bound to fulfil this obligation but unfortunately this is not so, as the government has not only ignored this provision but also failed to learn from previous incidents.

“That is why we are having a repeat of Chibok in Dapchi. The Nigerian government has ignored security threats Boko Haram insurgents pose in our society and tragedy has struck once again. With Rule 117 in perspective, an enabling environment has been provided for relevant stakeholders to introduce reform programs that will help find and account for missing persons,” he said.

Robert stated that the number of missing persons over the years have continued to pose threats to citizens and critical stakeholders in the country.

“The fate of missing persons in Nigeria has been a major challenge to citizens and other critical stakeholders as it relates to public safety, security and human rights.”

“Key concerns range from poor and untimely reporting, poor case management, delays in the search process, human rights abuses, lack of modern information technology tools and weak coordination and cooperation amongst relevant
stakeholders, security agencies and citizens,” Robert added.

Read Also: Military tackles Rep over Dapchi girls’ whereabouts

Robert agreed that the Government has done a great job in releasing a list of the abducted girls but needs to do more than just that if the girls are to return home as he called for more enlightenment in the face of the on-going crisis.

“The government are doing well already by deploying military assets and officers to work but more has to be done. They need to engage the locals and I urge parents, friends and families of the missing girls to come forward with the pictures of the girls so we can upload same to our missing persons portal. It saddens me that at this moment we are yet to put faces to the names of the girls.

“I know Nigerians want to help and they can do it better with adequate information. You never can tell, these girls might be held hostage in plain sight and if we fail to act now, consequences for delay in acquiring military intelligence to rescue our girls could be dire now and in the not too distant future. In cases like these, the need for enlightenment on preventive tips to staying safe in volatile area must be provided for mass consumption,”Ogbogu enthused.

Robert spoke of www.locate.ng which is an easy, fast and research supported intervention that addresses the three most important reasons why it takes a long time for missing persons to be found or not found at all in Nigeria – reporting, broadcast, citizen engagement, and instant search.

Locate will allow Nigerians report, broadcast and engage to find missing persons. It will bring together citizens, media houses, security agencies, development partners, national and state government, civil society organizations, and religious centres.

Locate is designed to receive reports and broadcast alerts of missing and displaced persons; and also provide social and psychological support to families of victims of missing and displaced persons.

March 5, 2018
Military tackles Rep over Dapchi girls’ whereabouts

Youths: act on lawmaker’s tip

The military has dismissed the claim that the 110 abducted Dapchi girls are in Yobe State.

A top officer, who pleaded for anonymity, last night described Hon Goni Bukar and other politicians/activists speaking on the whereabouts of the girls and the identity of their abductors as “a bunch of confusionists”.

“If they know where the girls are, they know what to do, instead of staying somewhere in Damaturu or Abuja and claiming that the girls are somewhere within Yobe State or anywhere else.

“This is how some of these politicians will stay in Abuja and will be granting interviews to you media people, claiming this and that, yet they are not anywhere near their constituencies.

“I have been in Maiduguri since Tuesday and all the nation’s top military and security brass have been in Maiduguri and Yobe axis, pursuing all the leads. The investigations are not only on-going, painstaking and multi-dimensional, but what I can tell you now is that we are not leaving any stone unturned.”

The source challenged Hon. Bukar, a member of the House of Representatives representing Yunusari/Gaidam Federal Constituency, to present himself before the military and security outfits for a journey to Bulabulin or any other place where the girls could have been taken by the terrorists. He said Nigerians should beware of people with such “wild claims”.

He also called on Nigerians to be patient with the military in their resolve to bring the girls back home, saying within the next few days, the nation would be briefed on the matter.

The Defence Headquarters at the weekend gave a hint of its battle to rescue the girls.

A statement signed by Acting Director of Defence Information Brig.-Gen John Agim said: “The Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Gabriel Olonisakin and the Service Chiefs with the Director General, Department of State Service met in Maiduguri yesterday, 1st March 2018 to review the ongoing operations in the Northeast, particularly the operation to get back the Dapchi girls.

“Even though the military is soliciting for useful information to facilitate its operations, the fishermen and farmers have not been singled out for this assistance; rather, all well-meaning members of the public are urged to provide useful information.”

March 5, 2018
NCWS urges governemnt to rescue Dapchi girls

The National Council for Women Societies (NCWS) has urged the Federal Government to do everything within its powers to rescue the abducted Dapchi school girls.

President of the society, Mrs. Gloria Shoda, made the call in a statement in Abuja. She said the abduction was a national embarrassment.

She advised President Muhammadu Buhari to act quickly to avoid a repeat of the 2014 Chibok girls’s saga.

110 students of Government Girls’ Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State, were abducted by suspected insurgents on February 19.

The incident came four years after the same terror group invaded a female school in Chibok, Borno State, and took more than 200 girls into captivity.

More than 100 of the girls are still in captivity despite repeated promises by the government to ensure their release.

The statement reads: ”We are pained as mothers to see another group of our children being abducted by the sect. It is most unfortunate that it is happening again after the Chibok experience.

“We are yet to overcome the Chibok abduction saga, and having another is a very sad happening in our lives as mothers. How long will we continue to live in fear of our children being abducted by?

“We need the Federal Government and security agencies to do all they can in the shortest time possible to rescue our daughters. We won’t watch the sect destroy the lives of our daughters.”

She also urged the Federal and state governments to prioritise security of schools to stem further attacks.

March 5, 2018
Dapchi dialectics

It all started as speculation. As governments revelled in disbelief, doubt or deliberate suppression of information, narratives from the scene were unequivocal that Boko Haram insurgents attacked Dapchi Girl’s School, Yobe State and carted away female students in trucks as they screamed helplessly.

Yobe State government was to issue a statement claiming some of the abducted girls had been rescued and under military protection. Governor Ibrahim Geidam shocked the nation the following day when he repudiated the statement on the ground that security information on which it was based was false. He even doubted if there was any abduction at all.

The federal government team which first visited did not help matters. The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed who led the team has doubtful knowledge of security matters and did not interface with parents. It took nearly a week for the federal government to admit that 110 girls were actually missing. That was days after parents had put up about 105 names of missing girls. Perhaps, without the insistence of those parents to the extent of attacking their governors’ convoy, the entire affair would still be shrouded in secrecy.

The above background is very instructive. For one, it bears an uncanny semblance with the turn of events in the abduction of Chibok girls some four years ago. And for another, it mirrors very vividly why immediate rescue action could not be taken by the military and other security agencies culminating in extant pass.

And more fundamentally, the development brings to the fore the enigma Boko Haram and its serial abduction of school girls have become. There are other inherent contradictions the turn of events has exposed. These impinge heavily on the texture and character of the politics that is played on these shores. The abduction raises far-reaching posers not only on the claims hitherto bandied on the degradation and decimation of the Boko Haram insurgency, but more importantly, on other issues freely traded when we had the first encounter with the Chibok girls. It is a strange twist of fate that history has fast repeated itself placing some of those issues again on the front burner.

Then, the regime of Jonathan was lampooned for initially doubting the abduction narrative such that he failed to take quick action. That tardiness and failure to give the insurgents hot pursuit was largely blamed for the inability to secure the release of the girls. We are contending with the same scenario again. That it took the federal government a week before accepting and coming public with the list of 110 missing Dapchi school girls, bears the footprints of the Chibok incident.

Incidentally, we have passed through this rough path before which should presuppose the lessons of the past should have been of value in handling the present. But that optimism proved futile given the muddle that is the fate of the Dapchi abduction. President Buhari must have been so rattled by the turn of events that he described the incident as a national disaster. The term national disaster conveys the erroneous impression that our security architecture was helpless. That is far from correct. And if one may ask, where are those who were pontificating about what and what Jonathan should have done and what he should not have done in the Chibok case? What have they to say now the same events have repeated themselves? Or are we going to blame the inability to get the Dapchi incident right on the poor example shown by Jonathan in the Chibok case? Maybe!

Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima is rattled by this contradiction. He had advised during his sympathy visit to Geidam that we should separate the abduction from politics especially given the conspiracy theories that were woven around the Chibok case. He also drew parallels between government responses to the Chibok and the Dapchi incidents with a veiled verdict that the current case is being better managed. Lai Mohammed shares the same opinion. But, that is far from the truth. There is nothing in the current handling of the Dapchi abduction that is an improvement on the Chibok incident. Not with the disbelief, confusion and deliberate attempt to conceal information. Not with the embarrassing altercations between Geidam, the army and the police. Not with security failure that enabled the insurgents successfully ferry the girls away without detection.

Jonathan was accused of doubting that the abduction occurred thereby hampering response time. We have seen all of that in the instant case. Even now, the government is still reluctant to fully attribute the missing girls to Boko Haram abduction. How can they admit when they claimed the insurgent group had been decimated, driven out of Sambisa forest and degraded with no capacity to cause havoc? How can they when they are about to apprehend Shekau who is on the run? We shall return to this shortly.

If Jonathan could be tolerated because that was a novel case, it is inexcusable a repeat should be subjected to the same muddle. Perhaps, Buhari can make the difference if he succeeds in freeing all the girls very quickly. But that will trigger off another round of theories.

Jonathan was dealing with an opposition governor during that heated campaign period. Geidam and Buhari are on the same page. That should have led to quicker understanding and enhanced response time. The allegation by Geidam that withdrawal of troops from Dapchi facilitated the attack and subsequent abduction is instructive. The army explained that the withdrawal was to beef up their fighting strength in war theatres overstretching their capacities and that they handed over the security of the area to the police. But Yobe police authorities denied sole responsibility for a state that is still under security emergency.

These disclosures are bound to trigger off another round of theories. This is especially so, since we have now been told by the army that troops’ withdrawal was to beef up their fighting strength at the Nigeria-Niger border where they came under serious attack. But we have all along, been fed with how the insurgents no longer possess the capacity to attack military formations except soft targets and all that. Where does that leave us now?

So the attempt by Shettima and Mohammed to post a success verdict in handling extant case failed woefully. Their predicament can be understood. They were part of the complex web of politicking in the Chibok incident especially as Shettima was the host governor. Events of that abduction contributed in large measure to the downfall of Jonathan. Their position emanates from morbid fear that history is repeating itself in quick succession and may come with a domino effect.

That is why they want security issues separated from politics and the incident detached from conspiratorial theories. It is difficult to fathom how that can happen given the contradictions already in public space. The interplay of this dialectics will inexorably rob off negatively or positively on our politics. And as fate would have it, both abductions took place when incumbent presidents were facing serious crises of relevance and credibility. They therefore fit into the most similar systems design and eminently qualify as good products for comparative analysis.

They can be compared in terms of response time; in terms of the state of the war and prevailing political environment. They also qualify for comparison in terms of parameters deployed to appraise the first incident and possible motive. That 110 school girls were abducted despite the series of negotiations between the insurgents and the government leading to freeing over 100 Chibok girls among others and release of some Boko Haram commanders after money changed hands are contradictions that cannot be glossed over. What of the claim that the war had since ended with the defeat of Boko Haram? How come the same insurgent group successfully struck with several vehicles and trucks capturing our children undetected?

There are issues to the Boko Haram tangle. We need to get really at the root of this thing called Boko Haram. Is it real or a business enterprise of some vested interests? It remains a puzzle that no key Nigerian or foreigner has been directly linked, arrested or convicted for their devious activities. Yet, the insurgents bestride the landscape like a colossus; often entering into spurious negotiations with agents of the government. It is time to unmask the faces behind the Boko Haram venture.

March 5, 2018
Boko Haram and the Dapchi school girls’ abduction
It is becoming clearer by the day that there is no end in sight in to the nefarious activities of the Boko Haram with the abduction of one hundred and ten girls of Dapchi Government Girls Science Technical College, Yobe State, recently.

During the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, nearly three hundred girls of Chibok Government Girls Secondary School were abducted and it took almost three years to negotiate with the Boko Haram insurgents to release about one hundred of the girls with the additional that were either rescued or ran away from the insurgents.

Not yet done, the Boko Haram insurgents late last year abducted some lecturers of the University of Maiduguri who were on oil exploration and some police officers’ wives.

They were released after the government entered into negotiation with the Boko Haram insurgents, and like Oliver Twist after they were released another set of girls were abducted.

It is so sad that the insurgents still have the guts to show that they are unbeatable and can abduct more school girls. In fact, it seems that abduction of school girls by the Boko Haram insurgents has become a source of getting financial reward through negotiation. Even the government is not helping matters seeing how porous the school was and less than a kilometre to the town’s police outpost.

Lessons ought to have been learnt with the Buni Yadi killings by the insurgents in the same Yobe State, yet the government failed by not putting proactive measures in place.

The army cannot be everywhere combing the whole country. Therefore, it is a collective responsibility for the people to share intelligence report.

It is imperative for the army to go all out to crush the Boko Haram insurgents so that it would come to end. The issue is beyond politics.

It is important for the government to give good listening ears to what Ahmed Salkida says because he knows the mindset of the insurgents.

What is happening in the theatre of war between the Nigerian state and Boko Haram is one step forward two steps backward as the claims that they were completely defeated is false because the group is waxing stronger by the day.

The war against the rag tag Boko Haram by the Nigeria military speak volume of so many things in spite of claims by the military that they have finished with the insurgents and less than a month, the insurgents struck in Dapchi.

The war with the insurgents is getting to nine years now and we are still grappling with it. What is needed is a total war in full gear and force and nothing more than that.

The army should not leave any stone unturned in the fight. The method of abduction is a strategy by the elements of Boko Haram to get finance to continue executing their nefarious activities.

We have a long way to go if by now, our intelligence cannot get where the insurgents are, and also cannot detect the attack on the girls of Dapchi. If need be, let us invite other super powers to assist in defeating Boko Haram completely as the fight is getting messy.
- Usman Santuraki
Jimeta-Yola.
March 4, 2018
Dapchi ordeal

It is a disaster of incompetence of service chiefs who should be fired

History is repeating itself like a bizarre dream. We are yet to come to terms with the ferreting away of the Chibok girls, a tale that brought an unlikely dozy village in the northeast to the notoriety of world attention and the troll of a first lady in the United States.

At varying times, it was a source of tears, rumination, distress, even dark humour. We thought, for our own good, that such a show of extravagance of impunity in guns, escapade, assault of innocence and education could not happen again. We thought it was legacy enough, even for the most inept and bedraggled government in a democracy.

But Karl Marx’s assertion held true in a dreary way. Chibok happened as a tragedy in April 2014. Hundreds of girls were taken away in a gangster operation cloaked as a pious feat. The girls, some of them still unaccounted for, some pregnant when they returned, others fell in love with their captors in what is called the Stockholm syndrome, some elated, some even returned to the paradoxical comfort of their oppressors. None of them celebrated their lives. They either surrendered to its finality or mourned their night of displacement.

Now the Dapchi girls episode can only be a farce that has portrayed our leadership in lights of imbecile incompetence and naivety. It has thrown up a paradox. The girls were abducted in the flush of self-congratulations by the service chiefs and the Buhari administration that has proclaimed that the dreaded Boko Haram has been routed finally.

Even before the Dapchi incident, the claims fell to the ground with the series of suicide bombs, sporadic attacks to villages and towns that recalled the bloody chapter when Boko Haram hung flags as marks of territorial conquests. It only reflected that as a security force the Nigeria military elite has no understanding of victory, and has allowed the exigency of political vanity to submerge the reality of hard work. It wanted to celebrate without evidence, to pop champagne as a form of campaign.

All that martial swagger has collapsed since the night of the Dapchi theft on February 19. Incident of the scramble to explain it away, the administration has stumbled compulsively. It has not been able to clarify why a detachment of the army left the place only for the goons to arrive. What was the reason to leave a girl school unmanned?

The goons reportedly came in the camouflage of soldiers. Was that enough reason why not even any intelligence was transmitted as they moved through the arteries of the north? If legitimate soldiers moved from one place to another in trucks, are they not supposed to seek permission from a higher command? How come these fake ones moved about admittedly from town to town, and no intelligence agency had any knowledge?

According to sources, the kidnappers did not even know the location of the school. They had to force a local at gun point to take them there. Such act of brigandage caused chaos in the community. And it took some time before they arrived at the school. So why did any information not parcel through to the armed forces?

A police station was located in less than 300 metres from the school and one can see the school from the police station and vice versa. So, the police folded its arms when the criminals shot into the air and petrified the innocent girls and the community?

The tiff between the police and the army, and the trading of blames were only evidence that they lost the argument. If in spite of the rumbles and turbulence the region has known for the past five years, the police cannot coordinate with the army and vice versa, it shows that we have no competence at the top.

The service chiefs, including the chief of army staff, as well as the inspector-general of police have disgraced their offices and ought to be fired. That the president has still dilly-dallied in this matter is unfortunate for a man whose main advertisement was his ability to rein in violence and Boko Haram. With the herdsmen rampage, the Dapchi girls and the unblushing escalation of the suicide bombings, this administration would have to look elsewhere for inspiration.

The governor of Yobe State, Ibrahim Gaidam, had to flip his earlier approbatory press release that the girls had been rescued. He blamed some members of the security community. He has been very lily-livered in pinpointing the culprits. His claim that he disbursed N13 billion on security does not exculpate him when he has not accounted for how such a huge sum could not help save the girls and he could not show that it was the Federal Government forces that failed him.

The news report that the Nigerian Air Force rallied 100 sorties in the aftermath is medicine after death. The Department of State Services (DSS) has operatives in every local government. The convoy of bandits rumbled through several local government areas and spent at least two hours in Dapchi. A tipoff could have decapitated the operation even before they left town.

In the Chibok case, the Boko Haram paraded the girls for all to see. In this case, we are not even sure if they are alive, or whether they are within our ken of rescue. Those deviants have grown wiser. We have grown worse.

March 4, 2018
Women pray for safe rescue of 110 school girls

Task FG to rise up to security challenges in Nigeria

Women under the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) have taken time off to pray for the safe rescue of the over 100 Dapchi, Yobe state school girls abducted by the Boko Haram insurgent.

The women also urged the Federal Government to rise up to the security challenges in parts of the country, particularly in the northern part of the country.

The prayers took place in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital.

Speaking on the abduction of the girls, South-West Women Leader of the church, Mrs. Florence Alashi said: “We urge the Federal Government to do something about the girls.

We pray that very soon they will return to their homes. But we can only pray that the FG will not take things lightly this time around. Government should take it seriously because of the homes that are affected. Even those of us that are here, we are also affected as mothers.

“It is not going down well with us. I will implore all of us not to relent in our prayers to the God that is all knowing and can do all
things for this kind of thing to stop in this country. As any of us can fall victim of the incident.”

The prayers were parts of the activities to celebrate the 75th anniversary conference of the women fellowship of the church.

The conference is slated for Wednesday 7th and 10th of this month in Igbaja, Ifelodun local government area of Kwara state.

Earlier, Chairman, Central Planning Committee Emmanuel Malomo said ECWA as a whole had been one of the hardest hit by the activities of the Boko Haram Islamists. Said Pastor Malomo: “On the part of Evangelical Church Winning All as a whole not just the women fellowship, we are not happy about the happenings in Nigeria.

Over six thousand members of the church are affected. Even in the recent kidnap. Scores of our pastors have been abducted, some killed as a result of the security challenges in parts of the North. Great number of ECWA churches have been burnt down in Yobe, Borno and other parts of the nation by these Boko Haram terrorists.

At present, we are want to challenge the Federal Government of Nigeria to rise to the security challenges in the country. Even as the church continues to pray.

“Government should do more to secure the lives of our children, these are the future leaders of this country. That is our prayer and
commitment. For us as a church we will join forces with security outfit there to secure the lives and properties of our people.”

On the 2019 elections, Pastor Malomo enjoined members not to shy away from their civic rights by participating in the ongoing continuous voters registration exercise.

“It is our sole responsibility to register and get our voter’s card. In fact, if we are part of the nation and we want the country to grow
and want the economic to be effective and we want the government to do the right thing we have to express our constitutional right in voting for the right people in the nation.

“As a church we have saddled our members to come out en-mass and register in the ongoing voter’s registration exercise. It is necessary.

As far as we are concerned in ECWA, we do not belong to a particular party, but as electorates we have the right to vote.”

March 2, 2018