On the night of April 14 and 15, 2014, Boko Haram insurgents stormed Girls Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State, and took away 276 girls who were preparing for their West African Examination Council (WAEC) examinations.
It was a tragedy which attracted national and worldwide condemnations.
Then, the blame games, who did what and who did not do what. While the Borno State government and the Chibok school authorities were criticized for not providing adequate security for the school children, President Goodluck Jonathan took the larger share of the blame for not acting on time, else the girls would have been rescued before the insurgents took them away to Sambisa Forest.
The President was told in no unmistakable term to lead the rescue operation of the abducted girls by personally going to Chibok and from there to Sambisa Forest to engage the insurgents in gun battle.
In the course of 2015 general elections, the kidnapped Chibok girls became a major campaign issue. While Jonathan was heavily knocked for failing to secure the release of the girls, his challengers promised that as soon as they were elected, they would ensure the immediate release of these girls.
Since assuming office almost three years ago, the Buhari administration has not effected the complete release of the Chibok girls, even though it has been working hard to ensure that Book Haram is defeated and that the remaining Chibok girls still under captivity are released.
However, just as the administration was toasting its victory over Book Haram, and claiming that the leader of the group, Abubakar Shakau, was now on the run, disguising as a woman in hijab, the insurgents struck at a girls secondary school in Dapchi, Yobe State, and made away with several girls.
The confusion over the actual number of girls that were kidnapped (the first report said 94, later it was adjusted to 105), had not been resolved, when it was reported that 48 of these girls had been rescued by the military.
That was a very cheering news, which made many parents began to rush to the school to find out whether their own children were among them.
Alas, the story only turned out to be a fake news as none of the missing girls had been found. The disappointed parents were to vent their anger on the state governor, Ibrahim Giedam, who equally rushed to the scene to welcome the “rescued” girls, as the disappointed parents angrily pelted stones on the Governor.
Meanwhile, we have since been waiting for President Muhammadu Buhari to come to Dapchi, to lead the rescue operation of the kidnapped school girls. As a retired army General, President Buhari is in a better position to personally pursue the insurgents to their hideout and take the Dapchi girls away from them, unlike Jonathan, “a bloody civilian “, who simply allowed the group to take the Chibok girls to Sambisa Forest without pursuing them there.
