If you want to lie be brief. That's a holy grail in the underworld. Once you adhere to it in giving statements after a crime, cover up becomes less entangling. You will not need much more lies or drama to cover up your web of deceit.
That is one maxim, those who conceived what is turning out to be the biggest scam of the century- THE CHIBOK GIRLS SAGA- flouted. Of course, the consequences, still unfolding, will be dire for Nigeria.
On the night of 14–15 April 2014, 276
female students were allegedly kidnapped from the Government Secondary School, Chibok, in Borno State. Boko Haram, an Islamic Jihadist and terrorist organization based in northeast Nigeria claimed responsibility for the kidnappings. Nigeria was stung to paralysis by the cruel act.
Naturally, our initial rage was overtaken by apprehension for the safety of the girls. Thereafter, fear for their fate. The tragic tales of the so-called COMFORT WOMEN(South korean females abducted and used as sex slaves by Japanese army during WW11) rushed to memory. Mere imagination of the scale of mindless, abasing abuse these girls will be subjected to scarred our hearts and harassed the conscience of the world. No surprise, this single event became the greatest undoing of the Presidency of Dr Goodluck Jonathan. The entire world turned their back on him. He is clueless. Incompetent. Chicken hearted. Confused. Overwhelmed. So the world thought. We. Now know better.
But let's follow the sequence and Acts of this fictional movie. There was a global outcry and threats by Boko
Haram to sell the girls. Goodluck
Jonathan was heavily criticised for his slow reaction. Truth is, he didn't believe the story. Dame Patience, Jonathan's wife, at first said she
doubted the kidnapping had actually happened. It took nearly a month, for Jonathan to set up a fact-finding committee that went to Chibok to
establish whether the abduction really happened and how many girls were missing. The world were enraged at this lackadaisical attitude, just as Nigerians cursed Jonathan. It seemed he knew what the rest of us didn't. He remained largely unruffled.
A pressure group soon sprung up to the rescue. Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) campaign group, BBOG stirred the memory of the incident, reinforcing same, with frequent marches in Abuja. They kept the pressure through the media and Nigerian press. Piecemeal, we were fed with intermittent breaking news of how some of the girls escaped. There was never a clear reproof of such breakthroughs, as no such girl is celebrated any where by any media, as, for instance, the Pakistani heroine, Malala Yousafzai, who survived the attempt by the Taliban to killl her after being shot in the head for promoting girl-child education. All such sham great escape stories fizzled out as soon as they were muted.
Soon Newspapers embarked on a countdown of the number of days the left over girls remained in captivity.
Co-conveners BBOG, Oby Ezekwesili and Hadiza Bala Usman, spurred their movement into global action.
In no time, world leaders, celebrities and activists, including United States of America first Lady, Michelle Obama were trending with the #Bring back our girls, clamour. Then came the #ChibokGirlsAmbassadors who, took the centre stage in the world on April 14, 2015, as they joined BBOG in the #GlobalSchoolGirlsMarch, to march for the missing girls on the first anniversary of the abduction.
The fire their protests generated, with scenes of women clad in mournful black marching had, before the march, roasted the Jonathan administration. Chibok girls became an intractable item on the campaign menu of 2015 Presidential polls. Jonathan's main rival, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, and his party, All Progressives Congress, APC, made a delicacy out of this sad story. Jonathan became mince meat. A dead man walking in the 2015 Presidential slates.
Taking firm advantage of this odd, amidst doubts that Chibok Girls is a scam, Buhari, made a campaign pledge everywhere he went,
he will do all it takes to rescue the abducted Chibok schoolgirls as well as tackle corruption and insecurity in the country if elected president.
Buhari accused Jonathan of lacking the sincerity of purpose required to tackle the problem of insecurity in the
northeast. Let us replay his exact words in a town hall meeting at Abuja.
“I have had the opportunity to serve my country in the military up to the highest level, as a major general and as commander-in-chief of the armed
forces." Buhari said. " In the course of my service, I defended the territorial integrity of Nigeria and if called
upon to do so again, I shall rise to the occasion,” he added. Then the punch line, “As a father, I feel the pain of the victims of insurgency, kidnapping and violence. Under my watch... I will give it all it takes to ensure that our girls kidnapped from Chibok are rescued and reintegrated with their families.”
He swept the polls and became President. Immediately after he was sworn in, the denouement started. BBOG began to unwind and became invisible. Newspapers forgot about Chibok Girls and the counting stopped. The media was redirected to the anti- corruption war and arms deal probe, commonly referred to as Dasukigate.
Then the shocker came. Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima
nominated the Principal of the Government Girls Secondary School (GGSC) Chibok, Hadjiya Asabe Kwambura, who presided over the abduction tale, as the new
commissioner for education. Classic irony.
Our outcry against this insensitive and callous decision didn't die down, when the next move gave us the blackout.
Hadiza Bala Usman, the BBOG co-
convener, was appointed, chief of staff (COS) to the Kaduna state governor, and Buhari's right hand man, Nasiru El' Rufai. Rufai was one of the fiercest abuser of Jonathan over the Chibok girls. We were all “disheartened”. The rhetorical questions arose: ARE THESE PEOPLE BEING COMPENSATED FOR A ROLE WELL ACTED? DID SOME PEOPLE ACT A SCRIPT OF FAKED ABDUCTION OF THE CHIBOK GIRLS FOR POLITICAL GAIN? One pundit asked, "Does it mean that some BBOG campaigners worked for Buhari (using the tragic abduction as a tool) against
Jonathan during the presidential campaign as widely speculated?”
We may never get answers as they are blowing in the wind.
Only last week, January 14, 2016, nearly 8 months into his Presidency, President Buhari confirmed our worst fears. He set up a panel to "unravel the remote and immediate circumstances leading to the kidnap of the girls by Boko Haram terrorists as
well as the other events, actions and inactions that followed the incident",
This was after his first ever meeting with the BBOG groups, led by its politically marooned co-convener, Oby Ezekwesili and some 'Chibok mothers.'
Folks', this is Buhari's famed body language at work. The very anti climax of the well orchestrated Chibok Girls saga. We are nearing a solution. Forget all those side shows by President Idris Derby of Chad as intervening on the matter.
Many questions now arise as Buhari's new scheme comes to the party. What happened to the report turned in Jonathan's Panel? Is it sincere to set a new panel to investigate this event? Will Buhari say in all honesty that he is not well briefed and furnished with authentic security reports on the Chibok Girls thesis? Is this de ja vu- the usual setting up of Panels to buy time and sweep the issue at stake under the carpet?
Let me unravel this latest Body Language for us. Philosopher and authour, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, counseled thus: "Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so
loses all respect for himself and for
others. And having no respect he
ceases to love." BUHARI HAS COME FULL CIRCLE TO RECONCILING HIMSELF TO THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH. CHIBOK GIRLS IS A FRAUD. HE HAS LOST RESPECT FOR ALL THOSE, PERPETUATING AND PROCASTINATING THIS UNSAVOURY MELODRAMA. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Next act please. Curtains fall. I WON'T SAY MORE UNTIL THE END.
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