Dapchi schoolgirls: When will this drama end?

By Ikechukwu Amaechi

Just as it happened on April 14, 2014 when Boko Haram kidnapped 276 students of Government Girls State School (GGSS) Chibok, Borno State, conspiracy theories are once again swirling around the February 19, 2018 abduction of 110 students of Government Girls Science and Technical College (GGSTC), Dapchi, Yobe State.

But there is a huge difference. Four years ago, President Goodluck Jonathan and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) initially dismissed the story as a hoax, but Nigerians believed it to be true. Jonathan and the PDP paid dearly for their incredulity at the 2015 polls.

Now, unlike four years ago, while the government believes the kidnap is real and claims to be working hard at resolving the matter, many Nigerians sneer, insinuating that it is a devious political stunt by President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

How such perception will impact the 2019 elections is ensconced in the womb of time.

But why would anyone believe that the kidnapped Dapchi schoolgirls are only pawns in the hands of politicians? How can a rational mind believe that these girls aged between 11 and 19 years are safe and will be set free at the opportune time? Those far gone on this conspiracy boulevard believe that such time will be the eve of President Buhari’s anticipated declaration for a second term.

For me, this notion that a government, for whatever reason, could contemplate such heinous crime against its own people, is absurd, uncharitable and spiteful, because I believe that it will only take a government run by Lucifer himself to descend that low. But I also concede that I may be naïve. I have the hunch I am wrong. I hope I am not.

But the fact that some people really believe that the government knows what happened to these schoolgirls shows how wary Nigerians are of the machinations of their leaders.

Nigerians have become very cynical, distrustful and even contemptuous of their governments over the years because of acute trust deficit. Nigerian leaders have perfected the art of whimsically misleading the people.

Good governance elicits trust. It is this trust that imbues in the people the faith that at any given time, the decisions of their leader(s) will promote public good.

Where such a bond is non-existent, innuendoes and conspiracy theories fill the void.

As Prof Kingsley Moghalu, former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), noted in his new book, Build, Innovate and Grow (BIG), “Leadership requires a certain kind of character that emphasizes and upholds core values, a sense of abnegation to consciously forgo opportunities to advance self or other narrow interests, and the competence to bring these values to bear in a manner that creates change and sustains social progress.”

At the best of times, these leadership qualities that promote trust are lacking in our clime, but it is even more so now.

So, what on earth would make some Nigerians think that the government is using 110 innocent schoolgirls as pawns on the political chessboard?

The conspiracy theorists insist there are many tell-tale signs.

First, they point to Yobe State governor, Ibrahim Gaidam’s allegation that the inexplicable withdrawal of security personnel was responsible for the abduction.

“There wasn’t any justification whatsoever to withdraw the military from that place, knowing full well that there is a girls’ school there and it’s a local government headquarters,” he said.

Global human rights watchdog, Amnesty International, corroborated Geidam’s claim on Tuesday, April 20, in a damning report.

“Despite being repeatedly told that Boko Haram fighters were heading to Dapchi, it appears that the police and military did nothing to avert the abduction,” the group said, alleging further that the military commander was “aware of Boko Haram movement” four hours before the abduction.

“The sighting of an armed convoy at Futchimiram immediately sparked several phone calls to alert authorities. Sources who informed the military commander in Geidam at 2 p.m. report that he responded to them by saying he was aware of the situation and was monitoring it.

“At around 3 p.m., the convoy arrived in Gumsa, where they remained till 5 p.m. People in Gumsa called Dapchi villagers to warn them that Boko Haram fighters were on their way. One villager who received such a call said he informed a police sergeant who promised to notify the Dapchi Divisional Police Officer (DPO).

“At around 6.30 p.m., when residents were heading to the mosque for evening prayers, Boko Haram members entered Dapchi. Witnesses said Boko Haram fighters asked for directions to the military post, the local government office and the girls’ school,” Amnesty International’s report claimed.

Before this bombshell, Ms. Aisha Wakil, a member of the Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges Committee in the northern region, set up during the President Goodluck Jonathan era, claimed that the Barnawi faction of Boko Haram contacted her to confirm it had the girls.

Ms. Wakil, popularly known as ‘Mama Boko Haram’ because of her perceived close ties to the terrorist group told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on March 2, that the terrorists contacted her to confirm “the girls were safe, healthy and in good condition.”

“They are even the ones that called me, and said Mama we heard what you have said and told me that they are with the girls and they are going to release them.

“I begged of them and said please let this not be another 1,000-plus days of Chibok girls, and they laughed and said no …

“I can assure Nigerians that so far they are with my son Habib and his friends; Habib is a nice guy, he is a very nice boy. He will not harm them, he will not touch them, and he will not kill them.

“He is going to listen to us, and so far he indicated interest that he loves peace. And I love them for that and believe what they said on this.

“They will definitely give us the girls. All I am begging Nigerians is to calm down, be prayerful …”

Then, last weekend, the minister of defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, weighed in on the matter, assuring that the girls are on their way home.

Speaking on Channels television, Dan-Ali said intelligence reports at his disposal indicated that the girls would soon be released.

“It can be earlier; maybe a week, it can be two weeks, but we are on it, and I’m telling you with all sense of sincerity that we are closing in on them.”

How could the minister be so sure? How could he be talking about the security forces closing in on the terrorists and release of the girls at the same time? Shouldn’t we be talking of rescue in the circumstance? Or was the minister indirectly telling Nigerians that negotiations had already been concluded for the girls to be released?

How can the defence minister be talking about a rescue, with its military undertone when President Muhammadu Buhari told the former U.S. Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, that he preferred negotiation to military option?

Two weeks after Ms. Wakil’s stunning disclosure, not a word has been heard from the security agencies. How can a citizen romanticize terrorists in the manner she did without consequences?

The president was given a red-carpet reception when he visited Yobe State to “sympathise” with the people. Many raised eyebrows that such a sombre occassion did not call for celebration which red-garpet reception connotes. Could it be that Buhari was actually celebrating a coup-de-grace, knowing that the girls are in safe hands as Ms. Wakil assured?

It beggars belief that any government would conspire to kidnap citizens for the purpose of gaining political mileage. But it is instructive that not a few Nigerians believe that is exactly what happened in the Dapchi saga.

Such belief that the government could contemplate something so contemptible shows the level of distrust between Nigerians and their leaders.

Whatever is the case, Nigerians only hope that this drama will end sooner than later and whoever is keeping the hapless Dapchi schoolgirls will hasten the fulfillment of defence minister’s ‘prophecy.’

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was written on Tuesday, March 20, several hours before the news broke that kidnapped Dapchi schoolgirls had been released.