Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media
and Publicity, Shehu Garba, wrote this piece on
hopes of finding the missing Chibok girls. Read below...
"At a time when the issue of accountability
has emerged as the most talked about
subject in public discourse, the theft of the
219 girls from a government school in
Chibok has, expectedly kicked up questions
about how far,so far, and whether this is
going to be an endless wait for their return.
A government that says it would be respectful of
the people's mandate would be willing to give a
snapshot of the continuing efforts to find the
girls and free them.
When the government of Muhammadu Buhari
gave strict directives for the Nigerian armed
forces to root out Boko Haram and bring an end
to the insurgency in our country’s northeast, the
kidnapped girls from the Government Secondary
School in Chibok were foremost in his mind.
The issue remains one of great significance to
Nigerians at home and abroad, and to the
international community, and finding the missing
girls is still a priority of President Buhari’s
government.
Over the past months, the Nigerian military has
recorded major victories against Boko Haram,
reclaiming territory that had previously been
occupied by the terrorists and dislodging them
from their strongholds deep within the Sambisa
forest. Throughout these operations, special care
has been taken by the military to not harm any
abducted persons in the terrorist’s captivity.Our
armed forces are under instruction to withhold
invasion rather than endanger the life of any Boko
Haram captive. Various reports giving alleged
information as to the whereabouts of the missing
girls have also been received by the army, but
these have all turned out to be false or
misconstrued.
Unfortunately, things were left too late. The
previous government wasted precious time
questioning the veracity of the abduction rather
than going in search of the girls when the trails
left by their kidnappers must have still been fresh
and easier to follow. In addition, after almost two
years, there is a big questions out there among
the experts ifall the over 200 missing girls are
gathered in one spot, in one location, sitting and
waiting to be rescued.
When he spoke honestly and truthfully on the
issue in his maiden Media Chat, the President
drew criticism from some members of the Bring
Back Our Girls, BBOG movement when he
answered in the negative, a question on if he
knew specifically where the girls were being held.
The President equally faced criticism for offering
unconditional talks to Boko Haram leaders to
secure the release of these girls, criticism that
ignoressufficie nt record in history in the United
States, Russia and even Israel. As illustrated by
security consultant and author, Brian Jenkins in a
2014 article, if a safe rescue is the objective-
which truly it is in this case-a negotiated outcome
is always better than an armed rescue operation.
In his words: "Armed action should never be ruled
out completely, but negotiations are the more
practical course to bring the girls safely home."
That article strengthens the argument that, while
the government must not abandon military
efforts, it should carefully consider the complexity
of such operation, especially given President
Buhari's emphasis that delay is preferable to
errors, especially where the getting the girls
unharmed is the ultimate goal. Don't forgetthat
after the 9-11 terrorist attack on the United
States by Alqaeda, it took ten years of careful
planning to bring Osama Bin-Laden to a final,
Hollywood-style finish.
For President Buhari, there is no place for the
overdone political posturing over the sad incident.
He is not seeking applause because this problem
is far more serious than most people think.
From everything the Defence Headquarters has
been saying, our troops are ready, able and
willing to storm anywhere at anytime to secure
the girls once that needed intelligence is
available.
The last battle-ground, the Sambisa forest is
large and expansive. It covers about 3,000 square
kilometers of Nigerian territory and it ideally
harbors the remaining terrorists and their
captives. But Sambisa presents a number of
challenges not only to our own fighting forces
but to the terrorists themselves. The place has
been heavily mined. The terrorist operatives who
planted the mines are believed to be mostly dead
or have fled, so they too fall victim to them as
they move in the forest because the remnants of
their fighters don't know where the mines are
planted.
With recent military procurements by the present
administration, mine-sweeping equipment have
been deployed to pave the way for our soldiers.
The Air Force is doing its duty of providing air
cover and the Navy is active in Lake Chad
waters. Our neighbors, Cameroon, Chad, Niger
and Benin are collectively standing with Nigeria to
deny terrorist a foothold on their soil.
In addition to these efforts, there are daily
intelligence reconnaissance flights by our Air
Force,the U.K, U.S and France which are
partnering with the Lake Chad Basin Commission
Countries.
In the light of all these, a serious advance is
being made towards liberating the forest and
hopefully, government will be laying its hands on
whatever is left of the terrorists and their
hostages.
However, the issue goes beyond the Chibok girls.
The incident which took place at the Government
Girls School in Chibok, as horrific as it was,
merely provided a glimpse into a darker horror
that had gone largely ignored by both the
Nigerian media and the previous administration:
Girls being kidnapped every day from their homes
and schools in northeast Nigeria.
The Chibok kidnap was merely an indication of a
much larger problem, in which the Nigerian
government has already recorded great progress.
Although military invasions of the Sambisa forest
have so far not yielded the missing Chibok girls
specifically, they have led to the rescue of
hundreds of women and children from various
other parts of northeast Nigeria, who had been in
Boko Haram captivity usually for several months.
Between April 2015 and today, about 2000 women
and children have been rescued by the Nigerian
military from deep inside the Sambisa forest.
Just last month, over 200 people, mostly women
and children, were rescued from Boko Haram
captivity. Without the BBOG outcry that followed
the Chibok kidnapping, the world may have
remained unaware of the distressing plight of
those hundreds of missing women and girls.
These hundreds of women and girls may not be
the focus of any major advocacy or media frenzy,
but they are equally important.Their rescue and
welfare are just as crucial as that of the famed
Chibok girls.Their safety is as much of a priority
to the Nigerian government.
The President sharesempathy,s olidarity and
sympathy with the BBOG and other stakeholders.
He may not be a man of many words. But as his
actions suggest, he understands the loss by the
parents, stakeholders and the nation very well.
That's why he keeps saying, " you have to secure
the nation to govern it well." Security is the
number one priority of this administration.
In the last few months, the government has run a
very energetic and a very successful campaign
that has diminished greatly, the terrorists, and
has engaged the neighbors and the rest of the
international community. These efforts have very
much translated into a concerted and coordinated
action. Yet for all these to succeed, stakeholders,
especially those under the BBOG movement who,
to their credit have served the nation selflessly to
make Nigeria a more conscientious country need
to rally their support behind the armed forces and
the President. That is a critical ingredient for the
girls to be found and returned and for the country
to be safe from terror.
By the end of 2015, the Nigerian armed forces
had succeeded in containing the insurgency in the
northeast.All this is part of the ongoing effort to,
not just rescue missing women and girls but
ensure that they stay safe afterwards, that
incidents such as the kidnapping in Chibok never
reoccur. When kidnapped girls are rescued and
returned to their families, the communities in
which they live must be secure. They should be
able to sleep without fear of being kidnapped
again.They should be able to resume their
education, to go to school in peace of mind. No
more kidnappings should be allowed to take
place.
If a repeat of this horrible incident is to be
prevented, there must be corrective steps
incumbent upon Nigeria.Preside nt Buhari remains
committed to taking these corrective steps. He
remains committed to finding the missing Chibok
girls.He is also committed to annihilating Boko
Haram and to bringing an end to terror in the
northeast and in other parts of Nigeria. We must
not lose hope.
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