After nine years of a historic attack and abduction in northern Nigeria, over ninety students whisked away from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, are still with the deadly Boko Haram terrorists.
With pity, Nigerians and the world at large watch as another anniversary of the Chibok girls’ abduction pass. Recall that the abduction was carried out on April 14, 2014.
The Nigerian military has recovered some abducted students in recent years, of which the federal government had decided to take care of their welfare and education.
However, amid lost hope for the recovery of the remaining students, President Muhammadu Buhari’s led government said it would not give up until its last day in office.
A new administration will be sworn in on May 29, 2023, OsunDaily News reports.
Buhari Gov’t Reveals Its Agenda On Chibok Girls’ Abduction
Speaking to journalists on the ninth anniversary of the Chibok school girl’s abduction, President Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said all hope is not lost on the rescue mission.
Recall that President Buhari, when he was sworn in in 2015, vowed to rescue all the kidnapped school girls from their abductors.
Reacting, however, to the inability of the Buhari administration to get all the abducted Chibok girls out of captivity as promised, Shehu, in an interview with Daily Trust, said the federal government has not backed down on the agenda to rescue the girls.
Shehu said some of the rescued had been trained up to degree levels, and added that the Buhari administration was not giving up on the return of the remaining girls till its last day in office.
The presidential aide said: “I hope you have not lost sight of what led to the failure of their early recovery, the fact that the sitting government at that time was arguing with Nigerians for two weeks on whether the girls had been stolen or not.
“By the time they came to terms with the unfortunate incident, the footmarks of the victims had disappeared from the sands of Sambisa Forest.
“Against these odds, the Buhari administration, in the first instance, got back 84; 83 came home because one declined to come along, choosing to remain with the terrorists. Among the rescued, we have some of them who have been trained up to degree levels.
“Thereafter, 24 more were rescued. From here, the rescue and return of the girls, in batches of one, two, three or more has continued. To its last day in office, the Buhari administration is not giving up on the return of the remaining girls.”
The Chibok Girls’ Abduction
Nine years ago, during the leadership of Senator Kashim Shettima as the Borno State Governor, Boko Haram terrorists stormed Chibok, a remote village in Borno State, and kidnapped no fewer than 276 abducted secondary school girls.
OsunDaily News understands that the assailants stormed the now global town on motorcycles and trucks, shooting sporadically at residents. They created widespread panic, burnt down houses and destroyed other valuable assets, and then captured their victims from the boarding school.
Reports show that the terrorists loaded the girls into trucks and headed into their den in the expansive Sambisa forest.
According to reports, fifty-seven girls escaped the abduction by jumping out of the moving trucks. The rest were moved into the infamous dens of the notorious terrorists, where they were reportedly forced into marriage.
The girls, mostly Christians, were forced into Islam, with some giving birth in captivity.
The then daring leader of the Boko Haram sect, Abubakar Shekau, swiftly admitted to the abduction of the girls, claiming that it was a reaction to the imprisonment of Boko Haram members by the Nigerian government.
Subsequently, the girls, who were mere teenagers, were paired as wives to members of the Boko Haram sect, in the sect’s belief that no girl is too young for marriage.
Boko Haram existed 12 years before the Chibok attack after it was founded in 2002 by a Muslim scholar, Mohammed Yusuf.
Their first known act of violence was in 2003, when they attacked multiple police stations, killing police officers and stealing weapons, OsunDaily News understands.
Why There Is Little Or No Hope For The Chibok School Girls Rescue
Speaking to journalists on the 9th anniversary of the Chibok girls’ abductions, an activist in the frontline of activities around the terrorists, Malam Hamza Suleiman, told Daily Post that most of the girls were believed to have been moved from Nigeria to places around Lake Chad, and so were away from where interventions that facilitated the earlier release of other Chibok girls could be perfected.
According to him, most of the remaining girls have gone so deeply into their life with the terrorists, having upwards of three children.
Suleiman believed the girls were unlikely to embrace ‘freedom’ even if they were offered.
According to Hamza, observers now feared that some of the girls may even have died, especially in the exchanges of fire that have often taken place between factions of the terrorists and government security agents.
He expressed the regret that attention to the remaining Chibok girls had decreased over time, reducing the likelihood of any more of the girls being prompted to return.
“Unlike the earlier years following the abductions, attention has radically shifted from the girls, such that until you called to ask for an update, I didn’t even remember that it’s nine years today,” the activist told journalists.
“Attacks have continued since the Chibok girls’ time; even depressingly so,” Suleiman observed.
