By Maxwell
Adeyemi Adeleye
A graveyard silence enveloped the nation of Nigeria on the 15th day of April 2014 when the
despicable news of the kidnap of 276 female students of Government
Day Secondary
School , Chibok, Borno
State
A series of protest trailed the kidnap saga aftermath the failure
of the immediate past administration of Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and the Nigerian
security formations to rescue the girls from their abductors.
The incapability of Jonathan’s administration to unravel the misery
behind the controversial kidnap of Chibok girls led to a wild condemnation and
rejection of his reign within and outside the shores of Nigeria
This singular factor indeed, contributed massively to the defeat of
Jonathan at the polls in 2015 presidential election. The kidnap saga was a good
campaign PR for the opposition desperately searching for central power. It was
a well greased campaign that collapsed a political dynasty embedded with
incumbency.
The hitherto loved, cherished and valued Jonathan by the
international community because of his intellectual humility and erudition
became a recluse character decorated with a legendary muffler of cluelessness, ineptitude
and clumsiness.
In Nigeria
*Has the BBOG Campaign closed shop?
Many Nigerians of higher caliber were not left alone. The former
Education Minister, Oby Ezekwesili’s led Bring Back Our Girls Group (BBOG) was
the most vociferous amongst the pro-Chibok groups. The group was well oiled by only
God knows people or organization(s).
For the records, twenty three (23) public lectures were organized
by BBOG in honour of the missing girls between June 2014 to May 2015. T-shirts,
Caps, leaflets, posters, et al was printed by BBOG to boost the campaign.
Social networks were in aghast as major Nigerian cities were shut
down in protest against Jonathan government for not securing the release of the
abducted girls. Nevertheless, as fate would have it, the opposition party that
promised to rescue the abducted Chibok girls within two months and also put a
stop to the menace of Boko Haram attacks if voted into power was victorious at
the polls as predicted. Jonathan was voted out.
Now, it is over 600 days that the girls in captivity were
abducted; and it is about 200 days that the All Progressives Congress (APC) led
central government got the insignia of power, yet, the girls are still in the internment
of Boko Haram.
*Buhari: Still promising to bring the girls home
Today, instead of the attacks to fizzle out, it is gaining
momentum. According to Amnesty International, close to 2000 Nigerians have been
murdered by Boko Haram with over 10,000 injured within the six months of Buhari’s
presidency. Virtually all the seized Nigerian territories already recovered
from Boko Haram before the end of Jonathan’s administration have been re-taken
by the dreaded terrorists.
The most bizarre melodrama is the missing chibok girls’ saga. Those
physically leading the public campaign for the release of Chibok Girls have
gone AWOO. No more harsh-tags! No more banners! Those who chastised Jonathan
government over Chibok girls are now Public Relations Consultants to the
current government in Abuja
Today, a co-founder of BBOG, Hadiza Bala Usman is the Chief of
Staff to APC’s Kaduna State Governor, Nasir Elrufai who in his personal capacity
excessively used his twitter handle @elrufai to lampoon Jonathan to a standstill
over the kidnap saga. And here come a question thus; can Madam Hadiza Usman
lead protest against the government she currently serves?
I am particularly shocked that most of my colleagues writing for
BBOG have embraced criminal silence in the face of current bombings and spurious
attacks against the sovereign state of Nigeria
Dr. Oby Ezekwesili operated in hibernation until the names of
ministerial nominees were released. Rallies have been technically banned in Abuja Lagos Kano Kaduna
Pitifully, the parents of the abducted Chibok girls are now urging
the general public and international community not to release fund to any NGO or
group on their behalf anymore. The parents described the Abuja
that the struggle for the release of their wards has been turned to a money-making venture.
that the struggle for the release of their wards has been turned to a money-making venture.
Consequently, many people who joined the campaign for the release
of Chibok girls are now forced to ask whether the struggle was real or they were
just used by some political agents masquerading as Social Activists.
And there’s this another question that, were the girls actually kidnapped?
And there’s this another question that, were the girls actually kidnapped?
More also, people are now asking that how could 276 girls be
kidnapped at a go and be transported to a forest with a distance of about 280 kilometers in a
state under a partial emergency rule without being questioned by the Army
officials that liters the highways in Borno State?
Why did the BBOG
advocates go on hibernation immediately the baton changed in Abuja Abuja Abuja
Adeleye writes from Magodo, Lagos
@maxwelladeleye on twitter
+2347039168005
@maxwelladeleye on twitter
+2347039168005
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