“If insurgency lasts for more than 24 hours, the government has a hand in it”
– Gen Sani Abacha
The demystification of President Muhammadu Buhari and his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has not been slow in coming lately.
Just as it was with President Goodluck Jonathan and his then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) so it is now with President Buhari and his party. Gradually but steadily, the system around the government is crumbling.
The two biggest credentials that hugely enhanced the victory of Buhari in 2015 was his high rating on security matters as well as the positive perception of him as incorruptibility and ability to tackle the endemic disease of corruption in our land.
Thirty-two months down the line since he came to power and 12 months to the next election, APC and Buhari appear to be fumbling with these two issues.
All areas of strength have suddenly turned a weak link instead. No thanks to two major developments in the polity last week. The Transparency International Report and the bizarre kidnap of over 100 schoolgirls from Government Girls’ Science and Technical College, Dapchi, in Yobe State.
By the nature of the institution as science school, these girls could rightly be described as future female doctors, engineers and scientists needed badly for the human capital development of the beleaguered North-East. With no reported sign of resistance, such numbers of student were just taken away at a swoop. We are told by the Yobe State Governor Ibrahim Geidam that few hours to the operation, the military operatives pulled out of the town.
Did the military pull out to give room for the arranged abduction? Very doubtful. Were the abductors just waiting for the military to leave before striking, or is it by coincidence? Could it be fifth columnists at work within the military that supplied intelligence on the military itinerary.
The same conspiracy theory that greeted the Chibok incidence has come up in the case of Dapchi.
The Yobe State government and the police first warned that the attack was not a kidnap, saying some of the schoolgirls might have gone to their villages without notifying school authorities. The same state government later announced that many of the girls had been rescued, a claim that turned out to be false. The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, who was clearly the attacking commander from his opposition desk four years ago during the Chibok incidence, said initially that he couldn’t confirm that there was a kidnap before finally conceding almost four days after that 110 girls are missing.
Either way, the mess is apparent and not good for a nation that had similar experience four years ago when over 200 young girls were abducted at the Chibok Girls’ Government College in Borno State. Once beaten twice shy they say, but does it apply in Nigeria?
In the case of Chibok incidence, the then opposition party now ruling party took the then ruling party, the PDP, to the cleaners for the perceived lukewarm approach that made it impossible for the girls to be recovered quickly. The then President Jonathan was particularly lampooned for not being responsive in his command action as well as visiting the incidence scene as a measure of concern. At that time the two states of Borno and Yobe were theatres of war and no security adviser would have allowed his principal embark on such risky visit. But the opposition would not buy the argument.
In the case of Dapchi, the region is relatively peaceful, in fact by the account of the military authorities and the federal government Boko Haram sect has been decimated.
But on the abduction of the girls, the Commander-in-Chief is seated at home in Abuja sending delegations to visit the area for him.
Just like the Chibok issue, conflicting reports have greeted the incidence. The actual figure of the kidnapped students remains a mirage, from 200 it came down to 94 and went up to 105 and finally for now the federal government got from the school authorities the current working figure of 110 students still missing.
It’s now very obvious to both Buhari and his APC machine that the Chibok mess happened because there was an error of judgement and poor intelligence on the part of the operatives and not because a “clueless” Jonathan was on the throne. Now Dapchi has happened at a time a General is the commander-in-chief and the story is the same if not worse. All over, what you get is conflicting signals from government, military, parents, police and the school authorities as the location of the girls remains unknown.
But huge disappointments await those expecting Buhari to be different from Jonathan and expecting him to rush to Dapchi to reassure the agonizing parents. The President’s spokesman has some words for such wailing wailers.
“The delegations to Dapchi will bring reports, if he needs to go he will. He can go anywhere when he needs to go.
“The president can visit anywhere at any time as soon as it’s needful,” Adesina said.
What it means is that the need for now has not arisen. So what difference has this change regime offered to the Nigerian people from Jonathan handling of a similar situation. What other evidence do we need to show that Nigeria problem is fundamental and structural and has nothing to do with who is there at a time.
Perhaps the only missing link here regarding the Dapchi incidence is the conspicuous absence of the feminine lamentation and humour provided by the former loquacious First Lady Patience Jonathan during the Chibok case. The current First Lady, the amiable Aisha Buhari has strangely been extremely mum off late even before and after the Dapchi incident raising fear that she may have finally been quarantined into the other room where she rightly belongs.
Meanwhile, as the confusion multiplies, the captors are said to have arrived their Sambisa forest base and the neighbouring Niger Republic with the girls. Reports indicate that the terrorists are preparing to return for another operation this time to abduct some men who the girls would be married to.
Recall that military told the world last year that Sambisa forest had been captured and a military unit established at the venue called Ground zero
The journey from Dapchi to Sambisa, according to report, is in hundreds of kilometres, the abductors did not go by air yet almighty Nigeria military could not track them down, over a hundred girls plus their captors in a caravan. Shame of the giant.
As I sign off this conversation thinking about the heart breaking moments of these parents and what they are going through and in particular the young girls in the forest whose nation have roundly failed, may I urge all readers to put a word of prayer to God for mercy on them. If any of you as a citizen of this country have never been worried about its future, this is the time. If you have a song of faith in your heart, let it show now. In the words of our former First Lady Patience Jonathan, let our leaders know it that “there is God…ooo”
Following the conflicting signals that greeted the Chibok incidence in April 2014, I raised this humorous quiz then in an article captioned “Tears for Chibok”
Tick the correct answer-
Q1. How many girls were taken away by Boko Haram gunmen from Chibok School?
(a) 200 (b) 234 (c) 276 (d) 180. (e) None of the above
Q2. How many of the girls actually escaped from the Boko Haram gunmen?
(a) 7 (b) 48 (c) 53 (d) 43. (e) None of the above.
Correct answer to any of the questions stand to win the latest DVD Video in the market. “There is God oo”, produced and packaged by the office of the First Lady and marketed by the #BringBackOurGirls group.
Nearly four years after Chibok, the Dapchi incidence occurred last week and with the same sad story, the current quiz is even more intriguing.
Circle the correct answer.
1. How many girls were abducted from Dapchi Girls Science and Tech College. (A) 54 (B) 105 (C) 110 (D) 94
Who should be the correct source of information on the number of missing students.
(A) College Principal, (B) Parents (C) Federal Government (D) Boko Haram
Conflict over removal of military checks point few hours to the abduction, who should we believe?
(A) Governor (B) Military (C) College Authority (D) Police.
Who is really searching for the girls?
(A) Air force (B) Army (C) Buhari’s delegation (D) Local hunters.
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