Today the Lagos chapter of the #BringBackOurGirls movement, which meets every Saturday at Falomo, will be inaugurating a chapter at Ejigbo, also in Lagos.
I mention this so that you will see that the pressure on the Federal Government to bring back, not only the rest of the Chibok Girls, but every other person who has been abducted by Boko Haram, is not only being sustained in Nigeria, but is even increasing. (This is in rebuke to the poisonous and false narrative that the campaign was commenced by the then opposition and that it wound down after the electoral defeat of President Goodluck Jonathan.)
Of course, concern is not that those being freed should be welcomed by President Buhari, despite the important symbolism of his welcoming the first of the 219 Chibok girls whose names and photographs have been circulated as the remaining victims of the mass kidnapping that took place in April 2014. After all, there are thousands of others - girls, women, boys and men - who have now returned from captivity in the hands of Boko Haram. While it is correct to say that Amina and all these other victims need more than just a handshake from the President, it is fair to say that Amina has received much more than that and is getting the kind of care and attention that she needs. However, it would also be fair to say that not all of those who are not 'Chibok Girls' have received the kind of care and attention that they require.
As for the man who brought Amina out of Sambisa Forest to escape starvation, we may hope that there may be others who will respond to the increasing pressure from the Army's advance by also helping other abductees to escape. It would be a mistake to assume that every woman is a victim of Boko Haram but that every man is a perpetrator. We should remember that some of the 57 girls who escaped during the original abduction were said to have been enabled in their escape by some of the Boko Haram abductors who were themselves originally abductees. Obviously caution is required, and one regular participant at #BBOG meetings advised that anybody claiming to have been abducted by Boko Haram should be taken to his or her community who are better placed to know, and can say whether there was any raid by the insurgents which resulted in the alleged abduction.
I doubt whether there is - to coin a phrase - any 'single story' by which we can define all those caught up in this awful insurgency. The emphasis has to be on physical recovery from the hands of the terrorists and insurgents, and where necessary, social, emotional, cultural recovery. Or, if appropriate, name-calling and any criminal sanctions. For sure, we need better protocols for dealing with recovered abductees - it was a gross error to publish information that Amina is pregnant, or saying what her HIV status is - but we needed them more than a year ago, and the question ought to be whether these exist, and if they do, why they are not being applied.
Ayo
I invite you to follow me on Twitter @naijama
Dear Readers,--Please, when will President Muhammadu Buhari, the President of Nigeria shake hands at the White House of Nigeria with the remaining missing Chibok Girls ??.Congratulations. On Thursday, May 19, 2016, President Buhari received and shook hands with the recovered missing Chibok Girl, her baby and the father of the baby identified as as a rapist husband or any suitable name.The President's approach may be termed diplomacy in one form and in another, political. However, the simple question remains which is where are the rest missing girls. The President must be alert to answer the pressing question . Until all the children are accounted for whether living or dead, they are the problem of the President.Please, President Buhari, consider the human feelings and the world outcry on this sensitive issue and show more concern.Hand shake alone is not the solution. There is need for action. May I please suggest that you quickly set up a commission to look very closely into the condition of these innocent girls and report to you within three months. Such a report will lead you into a new direction.Thank you,Professor oladimeji aborisade.University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
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