From Chibok Girls to Maga/Papiri Girls

THE world erupted in righteous indignation when, in April 2014, 276 schoolgirls were kidnapped by Boko Haram terrorists from the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, but 11 years on, nothing much has changed. Instead, the situation has become worse, with terrorists attacking schools at will. Last week, terrorists killed a teacher and abducted at least 25 students from the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School, Maga, Kebbi State. They engaged security personnel on duty in a gun duel before scaling the perimeter fence and seizing the students from their hostel: a member of staff was killed while trying to protect the students while a second sustained gunshot wounds. The terrorists had stormed the school in large numbers, determined to neutralise any resistance.

Following the incident, President Bola Tinubu said he was heartbroken by the development, as the outlaws had “disrupted the education of innocent schoolgirls” and staged deadly attacks, including the one that led to the killing a military commander, Brigadier-General Musa Uba, in Borno State. The president ordered a swift and decisive response from the security agencies, promising that those who threaten the nation’s safety would face the “full weight of the Nigerian state”. He said: “I have directed the security agencies to act swiftly and bring the girls back to Kebbi State,” ordering the security agencies to respond with “urgency, clarity, and decisive action.” Tinubu also ordered the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, to relocate to Kebbi State to coordinate the rescue efforts. Amid the melee, Fulani terrorists struck a Christ Apostolic Church in Eruku, Ekiti Local Government Area of Kwara State, abducting 38 worshippers. And as if that was not bad enough, another gang of terrorists raided St Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, Niger State. According to the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), 303 students and 12 teachers were taken from the school!

Happily, however, the 23 schoolgirls abducted from Government Girls Secondary School, Maga, have been rescued. Special Adviser to President Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, confirmed this in a statement on Tuesday, quoting the president as saying: “I am relieved that all the 24 girls have been accounted for. Now, we must urgently deploy more boots on the ground in vulnerable areas to prevent further kidnappings. My government will provide all necessary support to achieve this.” Shortly before this development, the security agencies had rescued the worshippers abducted in Eruku, a number of whom are school children.  And happily, too, 50 of the Papiri Girls escaped from their abductors.

The Maga Girls have now been reunited with their parents, but 250 of their Papiri counterparts remain in captivity. Naturally, the government has been effusive in promising their rescue. The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, pledged that the police would safely rescue the remaining students and staff of St Mary’s Catholic School, Papiri. Speaking during a courtesy visit to the Niger State governor, Mohammed Bago, in Minna on Tuesday, the IGP said that the force had deployed additional tactical assets and expanded intelligence platforms to ensure the safe recovery of the remaining students and staff. His vow: “We will rescue them unhurt.”

To say the least, the abduction of schoolgirls sleeping in their dormitories is distressing. If anything, such incidents have a tendency to rupture the psyche of the young, hapless girls, regardless of how fast the government succeeds in rescuing them. We earnestly hope that, building on the momentum in Eruku and Maga, the security agencies will rescue the Papiri Girls still in captivity and reunite them with their distraught parents, but that does not preclude strong condemnation of the government’s laid-back attitude to the security of life and property. It is galling that in a country that has a government, schoolchildren are being subjected to horrible treatment by criminals who should long have been dispatched to hell for their grievous crimes. In case the government has not noticed, what it has been doing for a long time now is responding to the activities of terrorists, not stopping them in their tracks and wiping them out completely.  It is a terrible game in which the terrorists trifle with the lives of hapless citizens, then the government goes after them. How can the country escape the clutches of terror when terrorists dictate the pace and call the shots? How can terrorists be sowing confusion into the camp of the state? Why not the converse?

It is unfortunate that even while the sad developments in the country adumbrate the need for state policing, all that the government has done so far is make promises while doing next to nothing to actualise it. Following the Maga attack, the Kebbi State government admitted to failing to utilise intelligence provided by the Department of State Services (DSS). That is profoundly sad, but the fact remains that it has no control over the repressive apparatuses of the Nigerian state.  Terrorists wield sophisticated weapons, bring down military aircraft, sack military outposts, slaughter innocent citizens in worship houses, and seize young children from their hostels, yet the government only continually wears down the populace with promises of robust security response, giving the impression that it places little premium on human life. In any case, if current events prove anything, it is the fact that the government has not learnt much from the Chibok episode that shook the country in 2014. It just cannot be right that certain dark forces profiting from the counter-terrorism war continue to undercut efforts to curb terrorism, and the government, which unveiled a school protection squad manned by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), continues to toy with the raison d’etre of a state. It is time to be serious about saving lives. The world is watching as Nigeria provides the worst examples of governmental failure.