Free Those Schoolgirls

Editorial

It is over one week since over 200 school girls were taken hostage by Boko Haram, yet all we hear are conflicting reports about their fate while there is no co-ordinated rescue effort by the Federal Government and the security agencies.

So far, the 43 girls that have regained freedom, did so, by their own efforts as they escaped from their abductors’ den at the risk of losing their lives.

Initially, the nation was told that at least 150 of the girls who were kidnapped from Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok on 14 April had been rescued a few days after the news of their abduction broke. But it turned out to be a big lie by security agencies as they could not trace the girls’ whereabouts, even up till this moment.

It was the principal of the school, Asabe Kwambura, who bravely told the nation that only 14 of the girls had escaped on their own. And when the authorities came up with an inaccurate number of the girls still missing and those that have regained freedom, Kwambura again braved the odds and announced that so far 43 girls had escaped on their own while 187 were still missing.

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This incident is a national tragedy that should be accorded the utmost urgency it deserves. The Federal Government should stop toying with the fate of these girls and take decisive steps to rescue them. The authorities should set up a high powered rescue team and stop the haphazard approach that may not yield the desired result.

We support the people of Chibok who have fiercely criticized the rescue mission because they have not yet seen a large build-up of troops in the region or any indication that the military had mobilized a major search effort. This clearly suggests that there is a measure of unseriousness regarding the rescue efforts.

Sambisa forest, where Boko Haram is said to have well-fortified camps, should be thoroughly combed to rescue the girls. There is little the parents of the girls can do, having trekked through the remote region in search of their daughters only to be turned back and warned to steer clear of the area to avoid being slaughtered by the Islamists. The least the government can do is to rescue these girls unharmed, no matter what it would cost to do so.

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