Each generation must discover its mission, fulfil it or betray it. Interestingly, a useless group of individuals, cloaked in an ugly attire of religion mixed with politics, have discovered their mission, and with impressive bravado, is fulfilling it. The task of this bloody group is simple: get politically powerful or kill, to get politically powerful.
Some weeks ago, over two hundred girls mysteriously disappeared from their school’s dormitory in Chibok, Borno state. The notorious Islamic sect, Boko Haram, claimed responsibility for the abduction. In a video released by their leader, Abubakar Shekau, he stated, “I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market, by Allah. I will marry off a woman at the age of 12. I will marry off a girl at the age of nine.” With pride, he spoke about how this was part of Boko Haram’s war against Western-style secular education in Nigeria. “I said Western education should end,” he added. “Girls, you should go and get married.” How the hell did we get to this point? How did Nigeria fall seventh in the global terrorism ranking?
Simply put, Nigeria went to sleep. In 2003, when the group reared its ugly head, and was led by one Mohammed Ali, the government did nothing to end the group from developing power. Ali was later killed in a shoot out with the police. His death should have sparked constructive research and actions to permanently eradicate such extremism but they were left alone. The group spread their tentacles to other part of the country from Maiduguri to Yobe state, recruiting new members and training their recruits in other countries. They targeted idle youths in various part of northern Nigeria, brainwashed them and introduced them to terrorism. And now, the rest, as they say, is history. Boko Haram has caused over two thousand deaths in Nigeria and the number will continue to grow, if appropriate measures are not employed to stop them.
The president of Nigeria, Dr. Ebele Jonathan stated unabashedly, that the whereabouts of the girls are unknown. Hear the president: “All the information that have been volunteered to us (about their location, we’ve used) and we have searched the places. We are using aircraft – helicopters and planes – that have the ability to scan and see what is on the surface. And we have scanned, but we have nothing.” Some days later, a search committee named Chibok Girls’ Committee was set up to search for the missing girls. The team has failed to get any type of information that would lead to the girls’ rescue.
Nigerians, parents of the abducted girls and individuals worldwide have taken to the streets and onto social media requesting that their girls be brought back. But, seriously speaking, who would bring these girls back? Displaying banners, posting pictures, would do nothing! The girls need more than that.
How can we speed up the “bring back our girls” mission? Just before we bring back our girls why have we not seen pictures of these girls? Before we bring our girls, are there structures created to help these girls, psychologically and emotionally, when they are eventually found?
Nigeria has called for international help. The US and China have deployed their troops to search for the missing girls. It is everyone’s hope that they are found. But for how long would, Nigeria, a so-called free country depend on international help to solve her problems? History has shown that the helper helps for unseen reasons and sometimes might even be behind the chaos.
The death toll keeps increasing. And it won’t stop now. The cancer has eaten deep and an international chemotherapy cannot help. The root of this sect must be traced, uprooted and destroyed if any positive result is to be achieved. A clear eye is needed as well; any eye blinded by politics would do nothing.
Noam Chomsky posits that any structure that cannot handle the burden of maintaining order in a given society is illegitimate and should be dismantled. The question therefore is: should Jonathan Ebele’s government be dismantled? As 2015 draws near, what should Nigerians expect? If the president’s wife can claim that “Even my husband can be defeated by terrorists”, it is safe to conclude thus: “Chai! Chai! Chai! When would this “bloods sharing” by vampires stop? Indeed, there is God!
Irene can be reached via email: [email protected] or follow on Twitter: @moshoke