276 girls abducted
by boko haram from their boarding school. If that was bad, what was to follow
was worse: (many more women were later to be abducted, raped, made forced
brides, and suicide bombers). The government that failed to protect these children
did not know what had happened, and when it found out, it did not believe it
had actually happened and this directed their reaction and subsequent handling
of the situation. The doubt and conspiracy theories led to two things: a
reminder that “there is God”, and a prolonged search for these children.
According to Tom Joyce, a Lieutenant, Commander (Retired), 79th
Precinct Detective Squad and Cold Case Homicide Squad, New York City, New York,
Police Department; and Director, Law Enforcement Strategy, LexisNexis Risk
Solutions “the chances of
rescuing an abducted child decrease significantly after the first 24 hours” (http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display_arch&article_id=2604&issue_id=22012);
after 336 hours (2 weeks), it was still being contested, debated, and
theorized. Fast forward 17,544 hours (2 years) and we still are no closer to
finding majority of them today than we were on the day they were abducted.
Shamefully, it took the emergence of groups: Bring Back
Our Girls (BBOG), made up of several selfless Nigerians and other individual
campaigns to get the government to accept and act, and also bring the issue to
the notice of the entire world.
As we mark 48 months of pain for these families, 48
months of the struggle to continue to keep the issue on the front burner, and
48 months of government’s haplessness on this issue, we should remember the
girls and their families in our daily prayers, we should salute the courage,
and tenacity of the members of the BBOG and those like it that have continued
to push for action by government, and avoid the issue being swept under an
already excessively bulging carpet (a place already occupied by the likes of
Clifford Orji, ALUU 4,and many other “questionable” happenings in our
environment).
14 April, a date that should live in infamy in this
country should not be a day of merriment in any form or guise in government
quarters or its proxies; it should be a day for empathy, for great sensitivity
to the plight of these parents. A day to prick the government’s conscience that
a great wrong is yet left undone. A day we all should rise with one voice that
never should this happen in our country again, a day for national introspection.
While the slow and denied response by the past
government to the events has brought us here, we cannot continue to blame the
past for the lack of a present solution; after all, the present government knew
the Chibok girls had not been found before they agreed to take the oath of
office. The government should have realized the buck will stop at their table
when they came into power if they had not already deemed it an urgent agenda. High
is our expectation of this present government and higher will our disappointment
be if they fail to deliver.
The government needs to ramp up its efforts on this
issue and get this over with; and if it cannot get them back, let us know. The
deed has been done, prolonging its effects without any solution in sight only
serves to exacerbate the pain, agony, and disappointment that is associated
with it. There needs to be closure on this issue. The families need it, the
country needs it, and the world needs it.
God bless Nigeria.