•The pains  of the parents

By Ndahi Marama, Maiduguri

Parents of  the 219 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram terrorists from Government Secondary School, Chibok in Chibok local government area of Borno State had fresh memories of their daughters with majority emotionally desperate to reunite with their children. The girls were kidnapped two years ago after a  midnight attack on the school hostel.

The parents cried at the top of their voices as they wore depressed faces when a  delegation of  government officials arrived  the school on Thursday where the attack took place on April 14, 2014, to commemorate the second year since the abduction.

Although quite a number of the girls escaped from their abductors with about 50 of them sponsored by Borno State  government to  complete their education in other schools outside the state, others were adopted by foreign humanitarian agencies and now schooling abroad. Meanwhile, the parents and, of course, residents of Chibok and the international community have remained with utmost concern for the failure to rescue the girls.

THE ABDUCTION

On that fateful day, some insurgents, who disguised in military uniform, stormed the school premises and persuaded the students that they were there with their trucks to ferry them to a safer place following sporadic shootings that engulfed the town. Not  knowing that it was abduction in the making, most of the students entered  the two trucks to a  destination of no return.

According to a teacher working in the school, “the abduction was perfectly planned as some people got the information before, and had  asked some students to stay away from the school premises for a week, while the innocent ones were not informed of any development hence, they fell victim to the abductors”.

Also, a  security guard, who spoke to our  correspondent,  said, “ The school had no military personnel as they were redeployed  from  the school a week to the incident.

“On the eve of the abduction, a senior staff of the school gave pass to some students from his village to go home and return  after a week.

“Staff that were left in the school were only those that were newly employed in January 2011… and these staff have less control over the students and the affairs related to the school.

“ Some students, upon seeing their mates leaving the school in droves with official pass,  also requested for pass but were denied by the school authority.

“It is unfortunate that the insurgents came into the school claiming  they were security personnel sent on rescue mission following the attacks  on Chibok.

“The schoolgirls, therefore, upon hearing that the insurgents were on rescue mission, innocently rushed to enter the truck brought  by the insurgents. But, after noticing danger as the trucks headed  to Sambisa forest, several of the girls jumped out of the trucks and escaped”.

On the second anniversary of the kidnapping, some residents of Chibok expressed sadness that government could have rescued the girls but  failed to do so due to negligence.

Chiroma Ali, a resident, said, “  It took almost 24 hours after the abduction before security operatives arrived the school… by which time the insurgents had  taken the schoolgirls into Sambisa forest.

“Had it been there was quick response by government and security forces, the girls would have been rescued from their abductors”.

Another Chibok resident, Mr. James Ndurmbita, narrated, “When we discovered that our children had been  abducted by  the insurgents, and there was  no security presence, parents and youths, armed with bows and arrows,  went in search of the victims but could not find them.”

The was sequel to the claim by the spokesman for the Defence Headquarters, Major Chris Olukolade, that over 88 of the abducted school girls had been rescued by the military, but  this was denied by the parents, school principal and the then Borno State Commissioner for Education, Alhaji Inuwa Kubo.

In a related development, there were  fears that the abducted girls may have been indoctrinated  into being used as suicide bombers.

But the Federal Government denied the possibility.

A security expert echoed government position when he said the average age of the schoolgirls stood between 22-25, contrary to the female suicide bombers used in attacks  in Kano, Yobe, Gombe and Adamawa State whose ages were not up to 20.

Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima;  Minister of Environment and leader of  the Federal Government’s delegation,  Hajiya Amina Mohammed;  Minister of State for Power, Works and Housing, Mustapha Baba Shehuril; a founding member of the Bring Back Our Girls group and now Presidential Adviser on Social Protection, Mrs Maryam Uwais;  another founding member of the BBOG, Hadiza Bala Usman; Senate Majority Leader, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume; Senator Binta Mashi from Adamawa State and  officials from Borno government were  in  Chibok last Thursday to meet the parents of the schoolgirls. The visitors traveled by road from Maiduguri for about three and a half hours passing through  communities attacked by Boko Haram.

Yakubu Keki,  a  leader of  the parents of the 219 girls, read an emotional poetry to express how much they missed their daughters, hoping they would  return.

“We don’t know whether you are dead or alive, whether you have eaten or not, whether you are forced to do things you wouldn’t want to do or not, but we miss you and pray for you”, Keki stated.

“We cannot fathom your definite location and the condition you are in right now. Are you alive or dead?  Are you pregnant, put to bed or empty? Have you eaten the food of your choice or forced to eat something against your will?  Have you taken your bath today?  How do you take care of yourself during your menstrual flow?” he asked. He said they were aware nobody could answer some of the posers except the abductors of their daughters, urging government to step up efforts at freeing the girls. He alleged the Federal Government was not doing enough to free the schoolgirls even as he appealed to the state government to rebuild their destroyed school.

The parents expressed concern  on government’s silence on the report of a presidential fact-finding committee, set up former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, to establish the  facts surrounding the abduction of their children.    The parents demanded that the findings at the committee be made public so that they will know if anyone has questions to answer. The committee had submitted it’s report in 2014 but the then Presidency didn’t make the report public.

Shettima said his administration shared the pains of the Chibok parents and was working hard with the Federal Government for the release of the abducted schoolgirls.

“We now have in President Muhammadu Buhari someone with very strong commitment to finding your daughters and ours. We are jointly working very hard and we won’t stop until they are reunited with you. I have daughters, I know exactly how you feel”, the governor told the parents.

According to him, Jonathan should be blamed for the woes of the Chibok parents. He said the schoolgirls would have been freed few days after the abduction had the former president acted. “The president didn’t even believe the abduction took place. Perhaps that was why he and his wife never visited Chibok even for once. One noisy governor even recently said the abduction of our daughters was false. This clearly shows their mentality,” he said, urging the people to pray the more.

He challenged the people to submit the lists of indigenous contractors of Chibok extraction to the government for consideration for the award of contracts for the building of new schools and hospital in Chibok.

But  the angry parents and relations of the abducted girls maintained only the release of their daughters could  relieve their pains.

Ndume and Binta, in their separate remarks, appealed to the parents and families of the girls to be united in prayers.

Minister of Environment, Mrs Amina Ibrahim, announced the FG donation of a truck of food items, clothing and money for the mothers of the missing girls.