We broke down PDP’s statement about the Chibok Girls; it’s horrible, horrible, horrible

by Soma Oj.

The Peoples’ Democratic Party has put out a glorious statement about their position on the release of 82 Chibok Girls secured by the Presidency by means of a prisoner swap.

At first glance, it does seem like the kind of statement that a Nigerian opposition party would put out after an action carried out by the Federal Government. We say “Nigerian opposition party” loosely and you’ll soon see why. We also specifically noted “Nigerian opposition” because it’s only a Nigerian opposition party that will offer no clear way out of a catch 22 situation while condemning an attempt made by someone else. We’ll get to that too shortly.

Like many things that come out of the Nigerian political scene, this statement is baffling on all accounts. So we tried to understand by giving it a little bit of context. Still, we came up with a statement that’s still horrible on all accounts!

Below, you’ll see the full statement but we’ll make some stops along the way to explain every untrue and every plain stupid thing they said (the parts of the statement we are explaining will be emboldened while our explanations will be italicised):

The Release of 82 Chibok Girls: Our Position – PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by Senator Ahmed Makarfi, CON, has described the recent release of 82 Chibok girls as a welcome development. The Capture and detention of these girls by the Boko Haram terrorists in the last three years had brought extreme pain and suffering not only to their families but to the people of this Country and men and women of goodwill all over the world. What is however of great concern is the price paid to secure the release of the girls. According to reports, the girls were released in exchange for the release of suspected Boko Haram terrorists. If that is the Case, we say it’s a heavy price to pay and an unusual one at that.

Let’s start shall we?

 

  • It is true that the abduction of the Chibok girls has brought extreme pain to the people of the country, but we hope that this statement has not implicitly given us the liberty to write off some of the PDP stalwarts who have continued to insist that the abduction of the girls is a sham as people without goodwill. People like Governor Ayo Fayose, Asari Dokubo, Femi Fani-Kayode, and even Patience Jonathan whose immediate response to the incident was to accuse government official in Chibok of trying to destroy her husband’s government.

 

Okay, let’s go on…

While we welcome the release of the girls, we do not think that exchanging innocent girls for hardened criminals like the terrorists is the right approach for the following reasons:

1). The suspected terrorists by this release have escaped justice; and all the effort made by security agencies to bring them to book has come to nothing.

2). The release of the terrorists is a setback for the War on insurgency. Their release is tantamount to releasing them to resume their war against society. Many of them could find their ways back to the terrorists camps from where they could unleash terror against the Country. Others who are allowed to roam freely in society could become veritable recruiting agents and purveyors of suicide bombing and urban terrorism.

  • No, it does not mean that they have escaped justice. It means that they were released. At no point did the FG say that they released the girls in exchange for a promise to stop the war on insurgency. This group does not expect that the FG will show their hand just to please them by revealing how many hits they have on the heads of the released prisoners (maybe this is us just being civilians who have watched too much Quantico; forgive us).

3). The Boko Haram terrorists are emboldened to continue with their tactics of kidnapping innocent people with the belief that they can always use it to blackmail the Government to release their members and to extract other concessions.

4). The piece meal release of the girls means the terrorists want to extract more concessions from the Government which in the end can only prolong the insurgency.

5). The release of the girls will increase the agony and high expectancy of the remaining girls still in custody of the terrorists and their families who will be wondering why they have not been so lucky. It therefore would have been better to ensure the release of all the girls at once.

  • FINALLY! We are getting somewhere. So this is the justification that the Jonathan administration and the PDP gave themselves when they chose not take any steps in order to secure the release of even half a girl during their term.

6). The negotiations are in clear violation and indeed a direct assault on the generally accepted international principle never to negotiate with terrorists. This international principle is sound and logical because negotiation with the terrorists only fuels their urge to continue with their heinous crimes.

  • What generally accepted international principles????? Let’s be clear, this is not an ideal situation and it is a huge shame that they have made a claim that seems like that’s what they are trying say without actually providing alternative solutions or the least backing for the claims that they have made about this being a violation of some perceived standards.

7). However, we recognize the concern of President Buhari to ensure the earliest release of the Chibok girls for domestic and international considerations. Equally, we are very concerned about the safe return of the girls to their families at the earliest possible time. But we disagree that negotiating with the terrorists is the right approach to achieving the objective.

  • So tell us the right approach, please!

8). Meanwhile, we rejoice with the girls and their families and hope that their remaining colleagues will join them in freedom in no distant future.

Long live PDP! Long live Nigeria!!

  • What faction of the PDP now?

Signed:

Prince Dayo Adeyeye
National Publicity Secretary, PDP-NCC

  • Prince Adeyeye was a Minister of Works during the PDP dispensation. So you see why we expected better from a man who once governed us.

 

 

One comment

  1. Pasonaly i dont xpect any tin beta frm a YEYE MAN 4 a YEYE PARTY lik PDP.D HOLY BIBLE said it-4 dey shal fal into dia own trap.Nd I bliv D HOLY QORAN has a simila txt.Nd i pray GOD dat PDP b xposd d mo 4d citizenry 2go wipe dem al out INSHA ALLAH.

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