BringBackOurGirls, a call for the rescue of the abducted school girls in Chibok by the Boko Haram sect, has become a global cause, with its depiction on placards by groups, individuals, celebrities and politicians at home and abroad. But, as the rescue of the girls tarries, day in day out, one can only imagine the lingering pains and the psychological trauma the parents of these girls are going through, without much help from the most appropriate quarters.
The federal government which, constitutionally, is responsible for providing security against both internal and external aggression/invasion, has fallen short of expectations, considering the incessant wanton attacks and killings perpetrated by Boko Haram in spite of the deployment of security agencies to the hot zones in the North-east. In addition, a declaration of state of emergency meant to return normalcy there has been made and extended twice but, regrettably, instead of the insurgency being halted, it has escalated alarmingly, incapacitating the nation’s military might.
The abduction of over 270 schoolgirls in Chibok was the last straw that broke the camel’s back of the boastful “we are on top of the situation” pronouncement of Mr President, asserting the capability of the armed forces in containing the insurgents in the face of obvious failings, as evidenced by their bloody operations in the past and recently, bombings in Abuja and Jos Terminus Market, etc.
The government’s yielding to the so-called anti-terrorism intervention of the US, France, and Britain to help us fight Boko Haram and hopefully rescue the nation from the acts of terror eating it up, is a development that has vindicated Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, who once said the insurgents were better armed than our security agencies- a statement of fact that wasn’t only condemned by Mr President, but also earned his anger-induced threat to withdraw the security presence in Borno State.
At this critical stage of our messy security situation, parents of the abducted girls and the world in the spirit of the BringBackOurGirls movement, are in high hopes and expectations that, the presence of US security troops and others, would not only return the abducted girls to their parents, but also end terrorism, and its perpetrators be made to pay for their crimes against humanity.
Idowu Amos Paul,
Yola
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