Chibok: A controversy that won’t go away

THE release of 82 of the adopted Chibok school girls last week came as  a relief to the nation, especially as the news came from the blues sort of. Though the hint had been there that the government was negotiating the release of 83 Chibok girls following last year’s  release of 21 of them by the militants.

Rather than throw everyone into frenzy and jubilations, the controversy that greeted the release of 82 of the girls this time is somewhat confounding. Yes, a good section of the nation jubilated at the news. Members of the Bring Back Our Girls also jumped for joy, backslapping in effusive joy. But the skepticisms around the whole saga have continued to rise.

The questions have continued to pour in. Why are we having the girls released in bits? Why are we having them released at the time when government’s PR is at the lowest? The first release was close to the first anniversary, while the latest coming very close to the second anniversary of the administration. Why and more whys.

Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose, granted an interview in which he categorically said there were no missing Chibok girls. Some analysts on television have also queried the several missing links in the story, dating back to April 14, 2014 when the sad incident occurred.

Special Assistant to former President Goodluck Jonathan on New Media, Reno Omokri is one of those who have decided to reduce their thoughts on the unending controversy into writing.

According to Omokri, the release of the girls should gladden the hearts of all except for monsters.

He enumerated some issues he called factual observations that should  prick the heart concerning this saga thus: “May 5, 2017: 82 Chibok  girls were released by Boko Haram to the Nigerian government after negotiations that involved a prisoner swap and payments: But questions about this incidence remain. On May 3, 2017, international news syndicate, AFP, reported that on Friday April 29, 2017 fighter jets  from the Nigerian Air force had pounded Boko Haram positions in Balla village, which is 25 miles from Damboa, just outside Sambisa Forest.

Citing intelligence reports, they reported that the bombing was so  intense that several Boko Haram fighters were killed including the  group’s deputy leader, Abba Mustapha, alias Malam Abba and another leader, Abubakar Gashua, alias Abu Aisha, described as a key person in  the group’s hierarchy.

“The Nigerian Air force emailed a statement to the AFP in support of these reports on the same day and said ‘Battle damage assessment conducted after the strike showed that several leaders of the Boko Haram terrorist organisation and their followers were killed during the attacks.”

“Babakura Kolo, a member of the Civilian JTF (a militia registered with the Nigerian government to help in the fight with Boko Haram) testified that “a number of commanders were killed.”

“On May 4, 2017, Boko Haram’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, released a video denouncing and taunting the Nigerian government over the attack  and promising reprisals.

“Yet, after this incident on April 29, 2017 that led to the death of their top commanders and many of their foot soldiers, Boko Haram still  went on to release 82 Chibok girls to the same Nigerian government that their leader had sworn revenge on exactly a week earlier? Does this add up? Does this gel with reality? Does this even make sense?

“On May 7, 2017, when the girls were ferried over to the Presidential Villa at Aso Rock, Abuja to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari, photographs released showed them looking very well fed and robust. In fact, the next day (May 8) Africa’s top blog, Linda Ikeji’s blog published a photo of the released girls side by side with a picture of a woman and her baby in one of the Internally Displaced Persons camp in Borno State for a side by side comparison and these Chibok girls, who had been living rough inside Sambisa forest looked well fed and buxom while the woman in the IDP camp looked haggard and hungry. How is this possible?

Many out there could tag the comments above as inhuman, especially as lives of the young girls are involved. Many would not want us to probe further as far as the girls are not reunited with their parents.

But partisanship aside, the questions deserve some engagements. What is really going on with these abducted girls?  Where are they being kept? And why would anyone keep over 200 girls for fancy? Who is feeding them and what does the person intend to gain in return?

We can ask all the questions but the fact remains that human life must be seen and treated as sacred.  The truth,  regardless of all questions that query the issues around the incident is that some  students of a secondary school in Chibok, Borno state were kidnapped in 2014. Notwithstanding their number they must be set free.  No one knows the true reason for the kidnap except the kidnappers themselves but it has emerged that the girls are being suffered for religious, economic and political reasons.

For those who seek to profit in all the three factors above, the girls are mere specimens and that should not be so.  We have to come to terms with the fact that their lives matter.  That they are Children of nobody should not give some persons the weapon to dehumanise them.

The government of the day in Borno and Abuja need to denigrate the likely gains they stand to make from. This unfortunate incident, damn all the consequences and bring the reminder if the girls.