Saturday, October 5, 2019 marked 2,000 Days since 276 schoolgirls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State by Boko Haram
57 girls escaped in the first 24 hours.
In the
last 5 years, 107 of the 219 girls held captive either escaped; were
released after negotiations; or were found after the army liberated the
areas where they were being held.
§ To date, 112 Chibok Girls remain captives of the terrorists.
The Bring Back Our Girls movement decided to meet daily at the Unity
Fountain in Abuja after the first protest on April 30th because we
believed we needed to put consistent pressure on the President Goodluck
Jonathan government to find and rescue the Chibok Girls. Our initial
engagements and responses received had clearly indicated that the
abduction was not taken seriously.
Our perception was confirmed
in the investigative piece published by the Wall Street Journal in
December 2017. Some excerpts from the article:
“To the surprise
of Obama’s Africa team, the abduction of an entire student body barely
registered in the press at home or abroad. In Nigeria, the reaction was
muffled by military leaders who informed their president the kidnapping
seemed to be a hoax.
‘We knew this was going to be big,’ said
Grant T. Harris, Obama’s Africa director. “But it was initially met with
a deafening silence.’”
“The first lady’s photo (May 7) would
front nearly every Nigerian newspaper, blindsiding President Goodluck
Jonathan, whose military still suspected the kidnapping had never
happened. Facing an unprecedented form of public pressure from his most
powerful ally, Jonathan had few options. He accepted the White House’s
request to launch a rescue effort.”
“’We gave them a hammer, but they never picked it up,’ an American officer said. ‘There wasn’t enough political will.’”
“The #BringBackOurGirls
campaign had made Nigeria a magnet for reward chasers and have-a-go
heroes. The government fuelled the chaos by paying millions of dollars
for information that led nowhere. Reuben Abati, President Jonathan’s
spokesman at the time, acknowledged the search became a gold rush.
‘There were too many actors working at cross-purposes,’ he said.”
In his memoir, For the Record, former UK Prime Minister David Cameron
wrote that at the time of the abduction, British troops traced the
location of some of the girls and offered to help, but former President
Goodluck Jonathan refused. Even though Mr Cameron’s book was published
on September 19, 2019, this part of the book was highlighted as family,
friends and concerned citizens painfully marked 2,000 Days of the
abduction.
In his words, “As ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ campaign
spread across the world, we embedded a team of military and intelligence
experts in Nigeria and sent spy planes and Tornadoes with thermal
imaging to search for the missing girls. And, amazingly, from the skies
above a forest three times the size of Wales, we managed to locate some
of them. … But Nigeria’s president, Goodluck Jonathan, seemed to be
asleep at the wheel. When he eventually made a statement, it was to
accuse the campaigners of politicizing the tragedy. And absolutely
crucially, when we offered to help rescue the girls we had located, he
refused.”
However, in a swift response, former President Jonathan
issued a statement asserting that Mr Cameron’s claims are inaccurate.
He says, “In his book, Mr. Cameron failed to mention that I wrote him
requesting his help on Chibok. Why did he suppress that information? I
remind him that copies of that letter exist at the State Houses in
Nigeria and London. He never called me on the phone to offer any help.
On the contrary, I am the one that reached out to him.”
He also
stated, “I also authorized the secret deployment of troops from the
United Kingdom, the United States and Israel as a result of the Chibok
incident, so how Mr. Cameron could say this with a straight face beats
me.”
A Nigeria Senator at the time of the abduction has also
supported Mr Cameron, stating that his interaction with President
Jonathan in the company of nine other Senators and senior government
officials showed clearly that the abduction was not being taken
seriously. In his words, “…We met him at the First Lady’s meeting room.
His service chiefs, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Inspector
General of Police (IGP), Secretary to the Government of the Federation
(SGF) were also there. Pius Anyim, the then SGF. President Jonathan made
us believe all through the meeting that the Chibok story was not real.
It was staged. That it was politics. He tried very hard to convince us.
This was his mindset and he made no apologies about it.”
Our
perceptions, the Wall Street Journal article, a serving Senator’s
recollections, that have not been debunked, clearly support Mr Cameron’s
assertions.
In describing the fate of the Chibok Girls, Mr
Cameron said, “Some of the girls have managed to escape over the
following four years, and others have been released, but over a hundred
are still missing. Once again. the combination of Islamist extremism and
bad governance proved fatal.”
The deadly combination of bad
governance and terrorism has been at the heart of our cry to Bring Back
Our Girls for over five years because if the government’s disposition to
security and human dignity is not reprogrammed, our girls will not
return and more of our children will continue to be abducted.
As a
citizens-led movement, we are committed to reminding the government of
the day of its constitutional responsibility to make the security and
welfare of Nigerian citizens its priority. Today, our core demand
remains the same, relevant today as it has been on each of the over
2,000 days we have turned up in Abuja, Lagos, London, New York,
Washington, DC and all around the world, pressuring two consecutive
Presidents of Nigeria to rescue the remaining 112 Chibok Girls, Leah
Sharibu and thousands of others that remain in captivity.
For as
long as they remain in captivity, we shall continue to carry them in our
hearts and make our voices resound and reecho our cries of five years:
“Mr President, #BringBackOurGirls now and alive!”
What are we demanding?
#BringBackOurGirls Now & Alive
What are we asking?
The truth, nothing but the truth!
What do we want?
Our girls back now and alive!
When shall we stop?
Not until our girls are back and alive! Not without our daughters!
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria!
Signed:
For and on behalf of #BringBackOurGirls Abuja Family
Florence Ozor
Gapani Yanga
Nifemi Onifade
For and on behalf of #BringBackOurGirls Lagos Family
Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi
Aisha Oyebode
Ayo Obe
Babasola Olalere
F.T. Adebayo
Habiba Balogun
Monday Ojon
Ngozi Iwere
‘Yemi Adamolekun
Yemisi Ransome-Kuti
For and on behalf of #BringBackOurGirls New York Family
Debbie Almontaser
Dionne Boissiere
Donald Robotham
Iman Drammeh-Nur
Laurie Combo (New York City Council)
Marcia Fingal
Mojúbàolú Olufúnké Okome
Naomi Less
Pat Sellers
R. Evon Benson-Idahosa
Rodneyse Bichotte (New York State Assembly)
Ruth Messinger
Shahara Jackson
Sherrie Russell-Brown
Tania Darbouze
Tehilah Eisenstadt
For and on behalf of #BringBackOurGirls Washington DC Family
Omolola Adele-Oso