by Mayowa Aboah

It has been 150 days since over 200 girls from Government Girls Secondary School (GGSS), Chibok, were kidnapped, and they are yet to be rescued.

A statement, issued by the #BringBackOurgrils movement, signed by Hadiza Bala Usman, Oby Ezekwesili, Maryam Uwais and many other members, called on the government and security agencies to save the girls.

“Our advocacy has always been for a singular purpose, that our Government and security agencies act to save the girls and all other Nigerians in distress.”

The movement blamed the inability of security forces to rescue the girls on lack of motivation and insufficient arms.

“The reality on the ground today is that the terrorists are well armed, they are motivated and they seem to have a game plan for carving out their vision of an Islamic Caliphate from Nigeria and its neighbours.

“This is happening because our armed forces are not sufficiently armed or motivated to fight the terrorists. The result is that the rampaging insurgents are conquering more and more of Nigerian territory. With over three million Nigerians displaced from their homes by the ravaging terrorists, no sane person can question the capability challenges that our armed forces have,” it read.

Elaborating on the dangers of the Federal Government (FG) not rescuing the abducted girls, and protecting its citizens, it read; “If Government does not act quickly and effectively, the danger we face is that of communities arming themselves through local militia. This solution might appear viable but we believe it is a dangerous one.

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“We must take on board the contemporary lessons we have learnt from arming militia to fight a cause in Libya and Syria. Yes they can start the fight and even achieve early successes but they will not stop the fight and allow the state to operate subsequently thus creating anarchy in the land”.

The group stated that the best solution was for the FG to be held accountable according to the Constitution, which states that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government”.

“If government has not been carrying out its primary purpose, we should come together to create conditions under which we can solve our problems. Serious allegations made against people in high places who have been helping the enemy must be investigated sincerely and the guilty punished. We cannot allow corruption and treason in high places sap our capacity to defend our sovereignty.”

The statement said that it was not only the responsibility of the government to recover the abducted girls, every citizen also has a role to play.

“We as citizens need to play our role in creating the conditions for recovery. In the past, our armed forces have proven their mettle even in global warfare where they were in foreign terrains from the Second World War through the Congo to more recent successes in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Our armed forces have also, during the Civil War, successfully saved our country from dismemberment. We must rebuild those armed forces of our past to ensure that we have a future.”

It also questioned the insurgency fight on the borders of Cameroon an Chad.

“Finally, the very important sub-regional dimension of our insurgency crisis has thrown up some curious developments for us as citizens. What exactly are the Governments of Chad and Cameroon doing right, that produce their widely reported successful strikes against the terrorists that we read ever so often? This surely calls for deep reflection.”

Emmanuel Chidiogo