Complicity in the Chibok Saga?

I am publishing this article here again. The reason is that it captures the questions I had asked, and many continue asking, much better I could put it. Nigerians have left the meat of the meeting convened by the First Lady and are instead pursuing crumbs. We need to sober up!

Following the piece “North: The Two Missing Freedoms”, which appeared in this column two weeks ago, there have been reactions and also revelations suggesting very disturbing thoughts and possibilities. If the truth must be told, the issue before us is not just a matter of lapses in security. Within the intervening period, the office of the first lady convened a stakeholder's meeting that threw up very alarming signs of negligence (and possibly complicity) on the part of those who have responsibility for managing the school and taking care of the children. At the said meeting in Abuja, the chairman of the area's local government explained that two out of the three routes into (and out of) Chibok were manned and blocked by the police. The other route was also manned and blocked, this time by the military.

So which route did the abductors take to get out of Chibok, when all the routes allegedly were blocked? That was one of Mrs Patience Jonathan’s recurring questions at the meeting. How long did it take the abductors to assemble the girls and board, before departing? How can anyone explain the fact that the children actually trekked for nearly two kilometres to where the vehicles of their abductors were packed, before boarding and leaving? Were there no villagers, officials or security men who saw all of this?

The talk today is how to rescue the abducted Chibok girls, and rightly so. But in the heat of it all, and especially following the media mauling of the federal government, many fundamental questions are not only in danger of not being asked at all, but of actually being dismissed as unnecessary.

In the aforementioned article, this column held: “There used to be one northern Nigeria, with one voice. It had the profile of an impregnable monolith, with leaders who enjoyed untrammelled freedom ‘from’ fear and the freedom ‘to’ act and determine means and ends in the Nigerian state. The leaders, elders and titled men were all nearly deified. But the story is different today. As I write, emirs, prominent persons and other leaders are in the line of fire from an amorphous invasion with unclear intentions. There are some as yet unverified allegations to the effect that some prominent northerners are aiding the mayhem. If this is true, then the persons concerned obviously do not see their political and economic graves down the road they are treading at the moment. Freedom is on the run and they cannot see it.”

Is it not curious, as was revealed at the first lady’s meeting, that the ‘abducted’ students not only trekked for long minutes through the land before being finally taken away, but were taken away in such a well-choreographed manner as to suggest that there was more to the entire saga than exists in the public domain? There was no coherent response at the said meeting, when questions were raised regarding why the Borno State Government ignored the letters of the Minister of Education and WAEC calling for postponement of the examinations, the need to relocate the students to the state capital and/or provide serious security. Why was it only after the kidnapping of the students that the remaining students were moved to a safer place for their examinations?

Why, for instance, did the Borno State Ministry of Education and the school authorities provide only day security in a school that has arranged for the girls to sleep in the premises after the examinations? To recall the SS3 students to write their WAEC exams against extant warnings and directives and without providing security seems to be more than a mere administrative slip, if you ask me.

Why was it only the female students who were in the boarding facility without security, while their male counterparts could come and go during the day? Why were there no security/gate man, no house parents, and no light on the night of the incident? What provided the ambience for the students to believe that uniformed men who suddenly appeared in their school were there to protect and rescue them? What were they told that they were being rescued from, anyway? How come the local government chairman could not relay an early warning signal sent to him by an informant? How come he also did nothing after receiving information from the Director  of SSS on the same matter?

And now, the clincher: no security operative or apparatus could reach the location of the broken down vehicles carrying the abducted girls. So their abductors made a leisurely exit with their ‘booty’ unchallenged; out of a town with three well-guarded (and even blocked) exits. This entire saga, and especially with the details that came from the first lady’s meeting, sounds very much like fiction masquerading as an account of actual happenings. It is a beautifully scripted piece of insanity that will put the writers of Disneyland to shame.

But the public reaction to that meeting in Aso Rock has created what can best be described as an atmosphere of melodrama on a matter that does not call for frivolity. The good intentions behind the meeting, as well as the frightening revelations that emerged from it, may seem to be now overshadowed by the distortion of its actual intent. While everyone is griping about what the federal government is doing or not doing, the primary focal persons in Borno State to whom the nation actually handed over those children have maintained a degree of nonchalance that can best be described as incomprehensible. Before the meeting, neither the principal nor the governor’s wife had visited the school after the incident. The principal and state officials could also not explain why, knowing that Boko Haram killed some WAEC invigilators in Borno State last year, decided to go along with an examination they had been told to put off; and without making any security arrangements whatsoever?

The principal admitted that the SS3 students were asked to return to their hostel to write WAEC exams without power supply, house parents nor any security arrangement in spite of threats in the area. Then it also came out that the women that demonstrated in Abuja, were not parents of the children and mostly did not come from Chibok but reside in Abuja. A special case was made of Naomi Murlah, a Deputy Director in the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), in this regard.

There are simply too many other baffling twists, conflicting revelations and distortions of statements and other details. The principal, who claimed to be residing in the staff quarters, only going to Maiduguri fortnightly for diabetic treatment, was found not to be riding in the school premises. Stakeholders were aghast that her school could go ahead and register males and over aged candidates (60 years and above) as internal students for WAEC at GGSS in Chibok, despite the security threats. To register overaged males who are actually not known and regular students of the school as day students, and then have the bona fide females enrolled as borders without any form a security is quite incredible.

Those who attended the meeting in question included the wife of the deputy senate president, wives of governors and their representatives, female legislators at the federal and state levels, the minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, special advisers, leaders of women organisations, focal persons in the Chibok abduction saga, women opinion leaders and other stakeholders. What have they done after that?

Besides the Borno State commissioners for health and education, the state’s commissioner of police, director of SSS, the principal of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, divisional police officer in charge of Chibok, the army commandant in charge of Chibok, the chairman of Chibok Local Government, the head of WAEC National Office and the WAEC zonal co-ordinators for North-east and North-central were also present at the meeting. Do any of these people have any public position in what is going on today?

Many are celebrating the advertised challenges the federal government seems to be facing at the moment. We forget that peace is disappearing everywhere. As was said here two weeks ago: “The north is disappearing as I write. The leadership can still wake up to a reality it seems to be reading wrongly. The problem is not the bombs, or the mutual recriminations among politicians. It is not the pretended indignation of an elite that does not see how it can claim the moral high ground by being seen to distance itself from partisanship in this moment of national crisis”.

Some may celebrate the negative global media focus on Nigeria, believing that they are ‘dealing with Jonathan and his peoiple’. Meanwhile it is all of ‘us’, as a people. Chibok is only symptomatic of a dimension of the malaise. Beneath it lies several brands of folly, all of which are predicated on the wrong assumption that somebody who perpetrates evil in order to make another look bad is thereby doing something good. Far from it!

...Credits - Okey Ndibe, Thisdaylive.com

Light from my Maker - A troubled Leadership, a troubled Nation

“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him….

^… When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi…” Matthew 2: 1-3;16

Something happened and King Herod became troubled; he heard things that agitated him. He was the King of Israel. Yet, here were these ambassadors from another country talking about another King of Israel. Was he going to lose his Kingdom? Notice that when he became troubled, all Israel as symbolised by the capital – Jerusalem – became troubled. Who were all Israel that got troubled with him? Certainly, it could not have been all Israel in the literal sense. They were his deputies, counselors, advisers and other high officials – call them the leadership. Because the leadership was troubled, violence was visited on a people.

Does the foregoing not mirror what is happening all over Africa? You bet! The leadership is mostly troubled and as a result, virtually all African nations are mired in one conflict or the other. This is the root cause of the crises in Nigeria - whether you call it Boko Haram, Cattle rustling, Fulani herdsmen, oil bunkering etc. The scale of the troubles invariably determines the extent of societal impact. Please note: although the above quote was taken from the Christian bible, the principle holds true whether you are a christian or moslem, budhist or even atheist!

Now, let us drill down further. We can identify two clear categories - intra-leadership troubles and inter-leadership troubles. In the first category, such as happened in Israel more than two millenniums ago, the leadership is united against a common ‘enemy’, real or imagined. The scale of violence is usually limited and mostly they would be able to overcome. However, in inter-leadership troubled situations, leaders are pitted against each other. There is mistrust among the leadership which results in leaders undermining leaders and gloating in leaders’ failures. When inter-leadership troubles are allowed to fester, the scale of destruction is usually far more than possible in intra-leadership troubled situations.

What troubles our leaders in Africa? What troubles our leaders in Nigeria? Do you know? How do we restore peace to these troubled souls so that Africa can move forward? Is there any role for the citizens? I would like to hear from you.

Join the discussion in part 2 where we look at what troubles our leaders and the possible ways out…

It is possible to change Africa, but only by Africans!

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (CNN) -- As the old adage goes, "If you want it done right, do it yourself" -- and for social activist Rakesh Rajani, those words have become an ethos to live by.

Growing up in a low-income family in Tanzania, Rajani quickly learned first hand about the hardships faced by many living in East Africa. At just four years old, he started working in his parents' shop. Later, when he wanted to go to school, Rajani watched his mother fight tooth and nail to find the funds to send him.

These definitive childhood moments would set the young man on a path of social justice culminating with his movement, "Twaweza."

Meaning "we can make it happen" in Swahili, Rajani established the non-profit organization in 2009 with the goal of empowering people through information and building an "ecosystem of change" for themselves. Here he sits down with CNN's African Voices to reveal how he is trying to spark a social movement to make a difference for millions of people. Continue Reading...

Chibok Girls Abduction – An Affront to All

The outrage that has greeted the abduction of yet to be confirmed number of girls in Chibok is, indeed, very encouraging. It is remarkable in the sense that it cuts across racial, geographical, ethnic, religious, social and economic boundaries.  I am still hoping that by the recent overzealousness of the Boko Haram group, they may have actually scored an own goal and we might actually be witnessing the beginning of the end of Boko Haram.

Across the length and breadth of Nigeria and in many countries of the world men and women, young and old, rich and poor are rallying, sending strong, unmistakable message to Boko Haram that we are together in this trying time. A critical message of solidarity is being sent to both the abductors and the victims. I had earlier advocated that unity and love are the greatest weapons against terrorism and extremism. And it does appear that the Nyanya bomb blast and more recently the abduction of the school girls are precipitating the much needed unity. This is not to discount the enormous challenges we still face nor the lingering divisions in places that matter much to us. However, as it is said, a journey of a mile begins with a step. We will certainly get to that point where the forces for unity will overwhelm the divisive elements.

Let's be very clear on this. The abduction of innocent, defenseless children, for whatever reason, is totally unacceptable. Children deserve our protection, not harassment. These are people that have no say in national or state issues; some of them may even be in school against their own wish. They have no capacity to decide for themselves! 

Furthermore, this violation of minors should never be treated as a Northern problem or indeed a Nigerian problem. An injustice to one is an injustice to all. When it is happening anywhere in the world, people must never be silent nor feign unconcerned irrespective of where they may live. Today, it is in the North. But if not properly tackled, it could easily spread to the South. Today, Nigeria's mourns. But remember that terrorism has been happening in Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc for decades. Also, extremists everywhere are watching. The outcome of the Nigerian question will reverberate across terrorist cells everywhere and could play a major role in shaping their next strategy.

That is why the world, and specifically in this instance Nigerians of all political, ethnic and religious persuasion, must act together and decisively now. Political calculations must be left out of this.

Personally, I believe it is time to begin to ask ourselves critical questions. What do these people really want? How do we engage them more positively? Is there any other solution apart from the guns? Boko Haram members are our brothers, fathers, mothers, sisters, children and neighbours, and a whole new conflict resolution strategy might yield the desired result.

Only unity and love will conquer extremism!

Chibok Abductions and the search for answers

As all eyes rivet on the multinational efforts to rescue the abducted girls from their captors, Igbo wisdom demands that we ‘Chase away the wolf first before coming back to ask the mother hen questions’.  How right! You could dwell on finding all the reasons only to realize in the end that you have gotten all the reasons but the chicks are gone! That is why in the matter of the Chibok abduction, I have always favoured going for the girls first. After all, nothing can be as important and urgent as having the girls back and unharmed. So many recriminations are currently flying around, but none has brought home one girl. So, why not just go for the girls for now?

Nevertheless, much as one would prefer to leave out these questions for now and focus attention on efforts to bring back our girls there is just something about these questions that almost appear to command attention. Like a shadow, the questions won’t just leave us alone. The more we try to shove them to the background, the more they multiply. Why are the questions so persistent? Why are they so nagging? Perhaps the reason the questions refuse to take the back seat is that answers to the questions may well prove critical to finding the girls. Besides, inability to provide answers to really very basic questions is an affront to our collective intelligence. These questions have been raised in one form or the other but we are yet to get answers. So, we keep probing.

To begin with, why did we gather so many students in this place without adequate security? You see, I lay no claim to being a security expert; in fact, I am not even a practitioner. However, common sense is enough to tell me that these children would be targets, especially in exam situations; there is an extremist group that hates Western education and has been going about blowing up schools. Hence, it is easy to see that these students (both boys and girls) need extra security measures.

Secondly, it is widely reported that WAEC had advised against having the exams in the school but was overruled by the state government. What was government’s reason for insisting on conducting the exams there? Did they carry the security agencies along in their decision? Was the government acting on any intelligence or simply gut feeling?

Does the school have an internal security arrangement? Most schools do have security guards. If this school has security officers, where were they at the time the girls were abducted? What happened to them? What do they know? Did they hear anything?

What time were the girls abducted? When did the school authorities know? When was the security agencies alerted? You see, one of the escapees mentioned that she got to know that something was fishy by the harshness of the abductors. This was still inside the school premises. If a child knew that something was wrong, so should the security officers too! In one interview, the school principal said she was away to Maiduguri the night the unfortunate incident happened. But she got to know that same night. Did she alert security immediately?

What did the military know about this abduction and when did they know what they know? Contrary to the impression that they came stealthily, pretending to be soldiers, a parent of one of the abducted girls said he knew about the abduction the same night it happened. In fact, he is reported that the insurgents started by attacking the town and when he learnt of the attack, he called his girl to know whether she is safe. He further told her to run for her life should she get any opportunity because the insurgents would come for them. Reports have it that the man actually chased the insurgents to a point where some of their vehicles were broken down but could do little against a heavily armed group. The insurgents, according to the report, were in Chibok vicinity until about 10:30am the following day. That is why it is important to understand what the military knew and when they got information about the abduction.

Related to the above, how many vehicles’ did they come with to cart away so many girls in a state under emergency rule without raising eyebrows? With the reports of so many road blocks, it is surprising that they arrived, packed the girls and disappeared without trace.

Furthermore, how were the abductors able to carry away so many children without hurting anyone of them? No single shot was fire? Did children see people they know among the abductors or did someone encourage them to follow?

Finally, how many girls were abducted? I am emotional about this one. This should not be a difficult question to answer ordinarily. Yet, we have seen so many figures bandied around that it is practically impossible to say with certainty how many girls were taken away. By now, we should have a definite number, with their faces. Because these children are registered for WAEC exam, it should not be difficult to get their data. Thank God for the multi-cultural, multi-religious, multi-racial protests across the globe that has helped to keep up pressure on governments to do something. Yet, people will connect more to actual names, faces, ages, aspirations etc. It helps make them more than numbers; it makes them more human.

As we all continue to pray and contribute in our small ways to efforts to bring back our girls, these questions will keep gnawing at us until satisfactory answers are proffered to them.

Sai su’n dawo, we will not rest. #BringBackOurGirls!

Who is Nyako Speaking For?

I am one person that believe that we can overcome the menace of extremism and violence only by uniting. Hence, I have been excited by the enormous show of solidarity among Nigerians following the Nyanya bomb blast and the Chibok abduction. Although some people, especially politicians, are still intent on placing their personal goals over and above national interest in these critical times, it remains a source of encouragement to hear a lot of voices of reason.

It is in the light of the above that I want to publish this article by Segun Adeniyi on the recent letter by Governor Nyako to his Northern colleagues. I found it worthy of reading. Enjoy!

"I have learnt enough over the years that when Nigerian politicians play the politics of either religion or ethnicity in defence of “their people”, it’s either they want to cut some personal deal or they seek to secure some political advantage. Many of us were witnesses to that during the aborted Third Republic in the early nineties when some prominent Yoruba politicians would “stand on June 12” by the day and yet be doing business with the military by night. Unfortunately, because they understand the gullibility of the Nigerian people, our politicians play this old trick all the time and they almost always get away with it.

It is therefore within that context that I am not surprised that the Governor of Adamawa State, Admiral Murtala Nyako (rtd.) has suddenly become rather popular among some Northern politicians. It is not that he has been able to solve the myriad of problems afflicting his state or that he has become a better manager of their resources. All he did to earn his current “fame” is to have released to the public a badly written “memo” on behalf of his “Northern people” that is as dangerous to the health of our society as it is unbecoming of a man of his status. Yet, whatever may be our personal misgivings about President Goodluck Jonathan’s leadership, the most important issue at this point should be how to secure our country. What Nyako’s memo has done is to make that task much more difficult than it already is while laying bare our delicate fault-lines as a nation. Continue reading..."

Rwandans: Remembering their past with a view to forestalling a repeat

Rwandans had a terrible experience in the year 1994. It was one of the worst genocides in human history when nearly a million people were murdered in merely 3 months. However, their recovery has been quite impressive. They made the choice to understand why it happened and to never forget those dark days. Above all, they resolved to never let such horror occur again in their country, ever again.

On April 7, they commemorated the 20th anniversary of the genocide. Below are some of the most gripping pictures from the commemoration. The images are courtesy of boston.com.

Bizimana Emmanuel, who was born two years before the genocide, is consoled by an unidentified woman while attending the public ceremony at Amahoro stadium in Kigali, Rwanda, Monday, April 7, 2014. (Ben Curtis/AP)

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The sky threatens rain as tens of thousands of people gather to commemorate the 20th anniversary the 1994 genocide at Amahoro Stadium April 7, 2014 in Kigali, Rwanda. Rwandans joined with leaders from around the world at the stadium to remember the country's 1994 genocide. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) #

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An emotionally distraught woman is carried out of Amahoro Stadium during the 20th anniversary commemoration of the 1994 genocide on April 7, 2014 in Kigali, Rwanda. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) #

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Dignitaries prepare to lay memorial wreaths on stone-topped vaults containing the remains of around 250,000 victims of the genocide. (Ben Curtis/AP) #

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A wailing and distraught Rwandan woman, one of dozens overcome by grief at recalling the horror of the genocide, is carried away to receive help during a public ceremony to mark the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, at Amahoro stadium in Kigali, Rwanda, Monday, April 7, 2014. (Ben Curtis/AP) #

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Performers re-enact some of the events enter a public ceremony to mark the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, at Amahoro stadium in Kigali, Rwanda Monday, April 7, 2014. (Ben Curtis/AP) #

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Performers re-enact the events at a public ceremony to mark the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, at Amahoro stadium in Kigali, Rwanda Monday, April 7, 2014. (Ben Curtis/AP) #

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A woman is helped out of the Amahoro stadium, in Kigali, on April 7,2014. Rwandan President Paul Kagame took a thinly veiled swipe at France on April 7, saying it was impossible to "change the facts" about the genocide 20 years ago. Reminders of festering anger have marked the anniversary with a major diplomatic row breaking out over renewed allegations of French complicity in the genocide. Paris had cancelled a ministerial visit in response to renewed accusations by Kagame, and on April 7 the French ambassador was in turn barred from attending commemoration ceremonies. (Simon Maina/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Emmanuel Ndayisaba, left, and Alice Mukarurinda, recount their experiences of the Rwandan genocide at Alice's house in Nyamata, Rwanda Wednesday, March 26, 2014. She lost her baby daughter and her right hand to a manic killing spree. He wielded the machete that took both. Yet today, despite coming from opposite sides of an unspeakable shared past, Alice Mukarurinda and Emmanuel Ndayisaba are friends. She is the treasurer and he the vice president of a group that builds simple brick houses for genocide survivors. They live near each other and shop at the same market. Their story of ethnic violence, extreme guilt and, to some degree, reconciliation is the story of Rwanda today. The Rwandan government is still accused by human rights groups of holding an iron grip on power, stifling dissent and killing political opponents. But even critics give President Paul Kagame credit for leading the country toward a peace that seemed all but impossible two decades ago. (Ben Curtis/AP) #

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Mudahogora Ernestine, 34, poses for photographs outside her home in the suburbs of the Rwandan capital Kigali April 3, 2014. Ernestine is the sole survivor in her family of seven in the 1994 genocide that left her with visible injuries on her neck, hands and other parts of her body. The three-month killing spree in 1994 by Hutu extremists followed the fatal downing of a plane carrying Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana. (Noor Khamis/Reuters) #

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The clothes of victims killed during the Rwandan genocide are laid out on benches in the Nyamata Church in Nyamata, Rwanda. Nyamata and the surrounding area suffered some of the worst violence during the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi, with thousands of people killed in and around the church, which now stands as a memorial to the genocide. A survey showed that 26 percent of the Rwandan population suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, yet the country lacks the adequate mental health facilities needed to address this issue. (Phil Moore/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Mukarurinda Alise, 43, lost all her family members during mass killings in the 1994 genocide, but says she is now living with the man who hacked her wrist off. Alise forgave the man who she says went to the same school as her, after he came back and begged for forgiveness after serving time in jail for his crimes during a three-month killing spree in 1994 They are now married and living in Nyamata. (Noor Khamis/Reuters) #

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Skulls and bones of victims killed during the Rwandan genocide are laid out in the Nyamata Church in Nyamata, Rwanda. (Phil Moore/AFP/Getty Images) #

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People worship during a Sunday service at the Chapel Mbyo on the eve of the anniversary of the 1994 genocide April 6, 2014 in Mybo, Rwanda. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) #

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Men line up before marching to commemorate the genocide of 1994 at the Kicukiro College of Technology football pitch April 5, 2014 in Kigali, Rwanda. On April 11, 1994, Belgian paratroopers, who were part of the UNAMIR mission, were ordered to leave the school grounds, abandoning the people to the national police and Interahamwe militia, who lead their victims to a garbage dump and slaughtered them. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) #

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Rwandan children listen and pray during a Sunday morning service at the Saint-Famille Catholic church, the scene of many killings during the 1994 genocide, in the capital Kigali, Rwanda Sunday, April 6, 2014. (Ben Curtis/AP) #