The return of Chibok women

WHETHER the deal with the Boko Haram insurgents to secure the release of the then abducted girls of Chibok is right or wrong is not the aim of this piece. Though the manner of achieving the campaign promise may be condemned, President Muhammadu Buhari has already succeeded where his predecessor, Dr. G. E. Jonathan, failed, as he continued to have doubts about the case of the then WAEC candidates in Chibok, Borno State in 2014. The BringBackOurGirls campaign is really effective in putting pressure on the Federal Government to have the innocent students out of the frightening den of the hellish insurgents. The Buhari-led administration made the deal facilitated by the Red Cross and Switzerland a top secret. That does not matter, anyway. More of our girls are back to the country, to their families who have been nursing invisible wounds. While waiting for the release of more of those still in captive, it is necessary to consider how the lives of these Nigerians can be reshaped to redress the errors left in their lives by the bloodsucking fighters. The President and his ruling party, though humble now about the feat, will start blowing their trumpet late next year ahead of the 2019 general election.

When they were ruthlessly captured and taken away then, they were innocuous, young and fresh. They had ambitions, hopes, dreams and goals which were all cut short. Helplessly, they were seized by the frightful monsters. They were just schoolgirls then. Are they still the same, mentally, emotionally, physically and socially? Can they still be called girls after three years in bondage, with the cruel and accursed men? Ask them to recount their tales, and endless will be the shocking revelations, not only about themselves, but also the militants. What could have made one of the girls to prefer going to meet her Boko Haram husband to having a new life? She was mothering a baby! A den is different from Eden. Of course, the eighty-two that the deal covered are not girls anymore, they are women. It will be of great help to them and the country if the Federal Government considers and treats them as such.

The emotions and innocence were shattered: they vanished. They were brainwashed and threatened to drop what they knew and accept new teachings. They are no longer girls. They have become women, they have been transformed. One thing we can’t discard is that a large number of them would have had children for the insurgents. It is not new to have female suicide bombers. Besides, it takes only three years to produce teachers at the colleges of education. Three years is enough to bring about the undesirable changes in the released people. Therefore, they need special attentions from the federal and state government, the society and their families.

It is not that advisable to ask them to continue their formal education where they met their woes. They will abhor school. So, they will want to go for small scale businesses or learn particular trades. It’s just a guesswork though. It is even better if their choices relate with this, but it does not mean that those who still want to have formal education among them should be dissuaded. Any meaningful and legal exercise that can make them easily cope with the environment they left about 36 months ago is good.

But before this is done, the psychological needs of the women should come first. As clearly stated by the lawyer and mediator, Zannah Mustapha, some of the abducted girls refused to go home. They might have been radicalised by the Islamists. Another possible factor of their refusal is fear, but of whom? The society and its occupants, of course. Even those who chose to regain their freedom may still have this fear of being molested and humiliated. Besides, they might have been radicalised too. Therefore, de-radicalising them should be the first assignment of the Federal Government. Their self-esteem and personality should be rebuilt. No amount of money is too much for the rehabilitation of the women unless the country can bear any possible threat to the national security. The psychologist, Fatima Akilu, believes that many of the abducted ladies might not want to abandon their militant husbands or may be ashamed of coming back home. These beliefs are actually undeniable facts. The 82 may later “miss” their Islamist husbands too. Hence, their rehabilitation becomes a matter of necessity and urgency.

Would they just be released to their families members who have to identify their daughters, sisters, cousins or aunts in the pictures? After the proposed rehabilitation, would they be allowed to wander and loiter in the streets? This would be risky. They cannot depend on their families who may even be very poor. Empowering them is a task to be shouldered by both the federal and Borno State governments. How and what to be done to empower them are for the two governments to determine. Let them not shrug this off. Rebuilding and empowering them can be done simultaneously.

This may be the time the BringBackOurGirls movement is needed the most. When they were in the den, they did not know anything about the group. The patriotic efforts of the campaigners will be further appreciated not only by the nation, but also the victims of the war if they can just reintegrate the ladies to the society. This will help them overcome most of the immediate challenges to be confronted in the society they were forcibly taken away from three years ago. The agility used to mount pressure on the Federal Government should be diverted to help these people socially, emotionally, physically and probably religiously.  To safeguard the Nigerian citizens and their properties no stone must be left unturned. Though the ladies may be harmless and still innocent, the Federal Government has to keep an eye on them all.

• Faboade writes in from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State.