The issue of the Chibok girls is a
clear example of how Satan and his hordes afflict mankind and turn issues
upside down to confuse the undiscerning and the naive. The enemy strikes out in plain sight, but
nevertheless attempts to write the scripts for what our response must be! Strangely, people uncritically swallow the
yarns, and soon stupidly enough begin to regurgitate it. It is the central
blueprint of the enemy for the endtime as we have been pointing out for nearly
two decades - create the problem and force the world to accept the solution you
proffer.
Like we wrote on the issue of
Ebola, it is not politically correct to ask about the origin of the indisputably
man-made virus (Or the motivations and
sponsors of American-Liberian, Mr Patrick Sawyerr who desperately brought it to
Nigeria.) The urgent matter of the moment must be to find a cure – whatever that
cure demands. Thank God for His manifest
help in helping us kick ebola out of Nigeria, thus providing a huge reprieve
for the entire world.
In the same vein on Chibok, no one
seems interested again in the details of why Moslem government/school officials
known to have sympathies for Boko Haram insisted on overruling the clear warning of the West African
Examination Council that it was not advisable to go ahead to conduct the exam
at Chibok, a predominantly Christian area in insurgency-prone Borno state. Rather than address the important issues
raised by the First Lady in her investigative intervention, the opposition
party managed to reduce the entire proceedings to two comical phrases: “Na only
you waka come?” And “Dia is God o”.
And quite incredibly and
bewildering, supposedly educated Nigerians are laughing!
Despite General Mohammed Buhari’s
clear statements that the War on Boko Haram amounts to a war on Northern
Nigeria, and
so on and so forth; members of the opposition still have the guts to reduce the current elections to one and
only one issue – insecurity in North-Eastern Nigeria! And guess what, they insist that government
carries every iota of the blame.
One does not have to be a security
expert to appreciate the challenges involved in planning a rescue mission for over
200 girls from multiple enclaves of merciless psychopathic/brain-washed killers,
many of whom would include female suicide bombers which can’t be distinguished
from the victims to be rescued!. Even in
hostage situations where the victims were in one well-defined facility whose
detailed plans were available to government, paratroopers backed with cutting
edge science and technology could not succeed in effecting a 100% rescue. A ready example was that in the Moscow
theatre in 2002. One hundred and thirty of the 850 hostages died in that operation
– and it was accepted by the whole world
as a successful rescue operation.
Virtually all the rescue
attempts in recent times by the almighty United States have resulted in the
victims dying in the attempt! Other countries like France could only docilely
watch their kidnapped citizens brutally beheaded by ISIS in captivity. There are clearly limits to what magic military interventions
can perform.
Imagine what would happen were
forty, not to talk of about 100 of the girls (which is quite possible) to be
killed in a rescue attempt!
Unfortunately for the Jonathan administration, it went to press too
early announcing impending ceasefire with Boko Haram and release of the girls –
negotiated by Chadian authorities. (In a comment made during the Convocation
Lecture of the Redeemers University last month, eminent historian Prof Jide
Osuntokun averred
that 70% of Boko Haram fighters are Chadians).
The political sponsors of Boko Haram merely upped the ante, and ensured
the deal was frustrated.
In all of these, 219 innocent
girls continue to live in the midst of heartless beasts. Whereas most of the
commentaries and publicity on the issue have become to gain political capital -
whether it be from the Obamas in America, to the attention-seeking group in
Abuja, it is very refreshing reading the recent commentary from Kechie’s
project, posted below:
Nkechi Ogbodo | 2/12/2015, 9:18 a.m.
“There is no
national consensus in Nigeria on how to deal with the Boko Haram insurgency.
What outsiders often fail to grasp is that this grim situation is merely the
symptom of a deeper malaise: a breakdown of the informal consensus on power
sharing between the Muslim north and the Christian south that had guided
Nigerian politics for decades.”—Princeton Lyman, former U.S. ambassador to
Nigeria.
I agree with
the ambassador’s assessment.
Friends, it
seems like only yesterday that Kechie’s Project organized a rally, forum,
vigil, concert and media reception in solidarity with our Chibok girls. We
stood in solidarity in front of the Nigerian Consulate May 10, 2014, with the
support of Harlem4 Center for Change and Street Corner Resources and demanded
the return of the Chibok girls. We stood in solidarity with the Chibok girls,
along with progressive Nigerians, friends of Nigeria, Christians, Jews,
Catholics, secularists and Muslims and demanded the return of the Chibok girls
by Boko Haram at a time when demanding action in front of our consulate was
still not politically correct. We called on President Goodluck Jonathan to do
all within his power to secure the release of the girls. We did that as
Nigerians and friends of Nigeria looking for the new Nigerian Renaissance as
Nigerians who want a better Nigeria.
On a
personal note, I was doing it because I know what it means to have a loved one
kidnapped. I was doing it because standing up for Chibok was a way to give a
voice to my mother, who was a victim of ransom kidnapping in Nigeria, enduring
eight weeks in captivity. I was standing and raising my voice because each time
I see my mother, I see an old woman who was violated and who is still in pain
both emotionally and physically. So when I stood up for Chibok, I was standing
up for the parents and families of all who were kidnapped. We were standing up
for all Nigerian girls, regardless of what part of Nigeria they are from. We
were doing it for all Nigerian girls. We stood up for Chibok and spent
resources, because since 2010, Kechie’s Project has been about empowerment of
girls through education.
What I
thought to be the new Nigerian Renaissance, unfortunately, was hijacked by a
select few who continue to dwarf the progress of Nigeria. All of a sudden, the
Bring Back Our Girls campaign became a movement that was commandeered and used
by the opposition as a tool for political gains. The world watched as the
momentum we all built to state the case for our girls got replaced by ethnic
and religious rancor. Elections and real issues facing Nigerians became
filtered with hatred, even among the so-called educated elites. Our girls got
pushed to the sidelines, and the demonization of political opponents became the
order of the day. The world turned away because Nigerians are their own worst
enemies.
Here is how
Nkechi concluded the article:
“Yes, there are many reasons not to vote for Jonathan, but Buhari is not the
answer for my freedom of speech and for my respect as a woman. Buhari is not
the answer for the empowerment of women, both politically and socially. He is
definitely not the answer for all our girls and our daughters, including those
in the northern part of Nigeria who are being married off as children, or for
all my fellow Nigerians.
PDP and APC are both the same. APC is an old wine in a new bottle. Both
parties have offered ordinary Nigerians nothing but misery. Our focus should be
on how to work together as one nation, with one voice toward finding a visionary
leader who will embrace our rich diversity and enhance the quality of life for
all Nigerians.
Nkechi Ogbodo is president and founder of Kechie’s Project. For more
information, contact info@kechiesproject.org or visit
www.kechiesproject.org.
