By Jide Ajani

We are all guilty!  No sphere of society can be  excused in the abduction of the over 200 Chibok girls.  From the media that was divided along North/South dichotomy or ruling party/opposition party reportage, to the pro-northern or pro-Jonathan propagandists, the needed unity of purpose against members of Jama’atu Ahliss-Sunnah Lidda’awati Wal Jihad (western education is evil), otherwise known as Boko Haram, was missing.

Just as it was in the beginning when this writer kept harping on the need for Nigerian leaders across party lines, religious inclination or tribal leaning, to rise against what was then a rag-tag group of Islamic evangelists intent on spreading fear, so it is now that a few Nigerians are attempting to have the magic wand.

Either as a consequence of thinking sans depth, or because of the euphoria of having one northerner, Attahiru Jega, Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, superintend the return of power to the North; or indeed, there was a nexus between the emergence and growth of Boko Haram and the need to make Nigeria ungovernable for a southern President, or a combination of the three, the sentiments being let out in some quarters suggest that Nigerian leaders and followers contributed one way or the other to the malady of insurgency occasioned by the criminality of Boko Haram sect members.

It was not only disheartening to hear Shehu Sani, a senator-elect on the platform of the All Peoples Congress, APC, pontificate on CNN on how to resolve the insurgency ravaging parts of the North, it was also a poor display by the distinguished, who fed fat on the information-poverty of Christian Amanpour who conducted the interview.

Perhaps, Sani may have become tongue-tied had she been aware and, therefore, asked him if he would confirm or deny the fact that some people whom the Federal Government had entrusted in the past with negotiation with the supposed leadership of Boko Haram were only intent on swindling their country and making money.  He may also have been tongue-tied, had he been asked pointedly that the past administrations he was referring to that had neglected the North were mostly headed by the selfsame people from the North.  He may also have been tongue-tied, had he been asked by Amanpour why leaders of his party have chosen to conveniently ignore the role of Governor Shettima of Borno State who, against the counsel from the Federal Government that the Chibok school should be closed, decided to allow the examinations to go on and, thereby, opening the innocent girls to abduction. Shettima is a governor on the platform of the APC.

The other very disappointing persona in this sordid story is President Goodluck Jonathan; and then, of course, his wife, Patience.  While Jonathan demonstrated utter lack of statecraft in handling the Chibok affair, his ever garrulous wife dragged dignity of humanity in the mud with her comic perspective to the scandal.

First, President Jonathan! Sunday Vanguard gathered from Aso Rock insiders that a meeting on Friday, May2, 2014, through Saturday May 3, 2014, between Jonathan; Shettima; CP Lawal Tanko, Police Commissioner in Borno State; Mrs. Asabe Kwambula, the Chibok school principal; Comrade Inuwa Kubo, Education Commissioner; and the DPO for Chibok, Hezekiah, had caused more muddle.

It was learnt that the four actors from Borno gave different versions of the incident of April 14, the day the abduction occurred.  A source inside the Villa disclosed that this development threw every effort from The Presidency into a kilter.  “Even Mr. President could not believe what he was hearing from the principal, the education commissioner, the police commissioner and the DPO. Those at that briefing listened with mouths opened wide”, the source said.

It was this sentiment that the President re-echoed on national television during his media chat on Sunday May 4, 2014, that he did not know where the abducted girls were, pleading profusely that the parents should come to his aid. From the gesticulation of hopelessness that he displayed regarding the insecurity in the country, what was clear was a challenge of capacity.

As for Madam Patience, she may be a wonderful wife on the inside but each public intervention by her weeks after the abduction came with a heavy baggage collateral mishap, which, in turn, only bred public opprobrium.  Giving instances here would be impolite but the social media videos of her intervention did more damage than good – even infusing the abduction issue with some sordid comic relief of disgraceful proportions.

To the myopic sympathizers of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and even some of its leaders who saw in every insurgent activity the hand of northern leaders, they partook in the grand deception that ravaged the land.  Instead of looking for creative ways of engaging the insurgents, they chose to tar the opposition All Progressive Congress, APC, describing the party as the political wing of Boko Haram. In truth, the actions, utterances and body language of some of the leaders of APC were incommodious to the brain and, therefore, made it a bit difficult to either insinuate them into or even extricate them from their alleged sponsorship of state terrorism.  But because a President and Commander-in-Chief is expected to always act in a presidential manner, Jonathan was expected to act, take charge and demonstrate that Nigeria was capable of stopping the insurgency.

Over 365 days thence, the girls are still missing.  Having campaigned that he would bring back the girls, the president-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, has now toned down his rhetoric, admonishing that he would not be a magician.

As in everything Nigerian, the only requirement for success is unity.  During every international football match between Nigeria and any other nation, tribe, religion, zone, section do not feature in the consciousness of Nigerians.  That is the type of spirit required to defeat insurgency as well as poverty and the plethora of ills bedeviling Nigeria.

But because we have allowed all these sentiments to becloud out reasoning on the issue of the Chibok abduction, we are all guilty.