by Jude Egbas

The military is aware that the insurgents are indeed in this particular space; with the girls tending to their every physical need including back massages. So why (just why) is Sambisa forest still on the map? Why is Boko Haram holding an entire country’s army to ransom?

The abducted Borno schoolgirls are still being held captive as you read this, just in case you’ve been under some rock.

It’s a shameful period to be called a Nigerian. It’s a sad time to be alive in Africa’s most populous country. There is no nicer way to put it.

It is perhaps trite that several years of bad governance and high level corruption have made us all benumbed to empathy and inured to pain, but we should still be collectively ashamed that two weeks after they were abducted from their hostels by armed insurgents masked as members of the military, 191 schoolgirls are still being held captive in Boko Haram’s lair— in an evil camp within the country’s borders.

Just how timorous and ill-equipped have our security forces become? To answer this question you may need to look no further than the events of the past fortnight. Reports have it that the girls are indeed somewhere between Sambisa forest and the Bale community—a herdsmen and farming outpost. I read another lucid report yesterday of the army developing cold feet as they sighted the insurgents in their camp in Sambisa; with the girls and several other abducted persons, living their lives like the rest of the world was at peace. The insurgents were listening to the radio and fiddling with their smartphones while a bevy of scantily clad young women and girls ran errands around the camp, cooked the meals of the insurgents and pounded yam for dinner. Some of the reports are emanating from the lips of the parents who went into the forest in search of their wards accompanied by members of our army. One parent noted that they had expected the military personnel in their company to open fire upon sighting the camp during one instance, but a soldier had whispered, his lips quavering and his feet quaking in his boots: “we have no such directive”.

Another report stated how members of the Boko Haram sect still receive their helicopter supplies of grains, baked beans, Mr Biggs rice and fried chicken, processed juice and soft drinks, while operating from the Sambisa forest daily—in a State under emergency rule! Of course they also restock their cache of arms and ammunition from their Sambisa base. The brave parents who went in search of their kids were warned by the insurgents not to proceed any further or risked being slain. The whole world knows these guys are in this forest. The military is aware that the insurgents are indeed in this particular space; with the girls tending to their every physical need including back massages. So why (just why) is Sambisa forest still on the map? Why is Boko Haram holding an entire country’s army to ransom? Where are the DSS chaps who have perfected the dark art of arresting and hounding online activists instead? What is stopping a full scale military sortie/raid into the Sambisa camp? Where is the will and the sincerity of purpose from the authorities to wipe out Sambisa forest? How else do you utilize trillions of Naira in annual defense budgets? Level the modaf*** goddamn forest and set these girls free somebody!

I admit that I am as close to a novice in military operations and intelligence as you are ever likely to find behind a computer keyboard, but our men in uniform also have to hold their hands up and admit that for every minute that passes with those little girls becoming sex slaves of those bastards in the forest, they bring our country and the entire continent to ridicule. This is the definition of odium and opprobrium. Sadly, President Jonathan’s expanded security meeting at the villa last week appears to have yielded little results.

Maybe, just maybe, it is time for an entire country to storm Sambisa and rescue the girls themselves? It has reached that dangerous tipping point and it is the very least we can do in the circumstances. Let’s not kid ourselves too much here: we all have to bear arms and confront Boko Haram ourselves; one way or the other.

The girls must not remain in that forest for much longer. Is anyone out there listening to me?

Extra

South Korea’s Prime Minister, Chung Hong-won threw in the towel yesterday after taking responsibility for his government’s tardy response to a ferry’s sinking that has left nearly 200 (mostly school kids) dead with scores still missing. He announced his resignation on national television with the following words:

“It has been more than 10 days since the sinking accident occurred, but the cries from the family members who still have not found their missing persons keep me from sleeping at night. I bow my head and express my condolences to the victims’ portraits of this accident. I apologise deeply to the bereaving families, and I pray for a quick recovery from the hurt of a slow recovery.

 

“On behalf of the government for the many problems that arose during the first response and the subsequent rescue operation in addition to problems that existed before the accident…during the search process, the government took inadequate measures and disappointed the public. I should take responsibility for everything as the prime minister, but the government can assume no more. So I will resign as prime minister…”

How very strange and eerie this must all sound if you are Nigerian! How many persons have we lost to Boko Haram since the turn of the year? Plus, a certain Abba Moro is still sitting pretty at the interior ministry after more than a dozen job seeking Nigerians lost their lives under his watch.

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This article was published with permission from Ekekee.com

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not the opinions of Y!/YNaija