By Amanze Obi
Some 584 days ago, something
called Chibok crept into the Nigerian lexicon. We were told that a certain
sleepy town in Borno
State that goes by that
name had been invaded by Boko Haram terrorists. The gist of the strange tale
was that over 200 schoolgirls had been abducted from a secondary school in the
town.
The story, strange as it was, bore
the ring of the familiar. It was in line with what had become almost customary
– the daily invasion of northern enclaves by Boko Haram insurgents.
Consequently, government, as it appeared then, did not take exception to it. Besides,
the story resonated more with theory. How did the abduction take place? Where
were the authorities of the school when it happened? What about the Nigerian
security network that operated in the North East? Did they, by any means, know
something about the famed abduction?
Answers to these questions did not
come handy. They were far to seek. Because this was the case, the government of
the day, which was honed in by its effort to establish the truth of the matter,
was not quick to respond to the abduction story.
That was the period of high wire
politics. It was a period when the Jonathan presidency was encircled by a web
of conspiracy but which was hardly obvious to the president himself.
While the president groped in the
dark, the conspirators had a field day. They tightened the noose around his
neck. And so, because the Jonathan presidency was not seeing clearly, opposite
people seized the stage. They went to the roof tops with the story of the
abduction. Then the international media took over from them. And before long,
the government of the day was crippled by the story of the abduction.