This is the first post in a three-part series by guest author Emmanuel Mbaezue on the Boko Haram kidnapping of more than 200 school girls in Nigeria.
Photo by Voice of America placed in the public domain.
As the world still struggles to unravel the mystery surrounding the disappearance of the Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, another horrifying incident has taken the world by storm: Boko Haram the ruthless insurgent/terrorist group operating in North-Eastern Nigeria, has abducted from Chibok, a community in Borno State, over 200 girls writing their senior school certificate examinations.
While the foreign media and the international community at large continue to pour out outrage and condemn this barbaric act in all its entirety, some pertinent questions give us great cause for concern:
- Why is this particular attack by Boko Haram drawing so much international and local attention?
- Is the modus operandi and the motive behind this particular attack isolated from previous ones?
- Does Nigeria and the world at large consider the monstrosity of the abduction of the Chibok girls worse than the brutal, cold blooded murder of 59 of their male counter-parts in Government Secondary School in Buni Yadi, Yobe State, or the countless other lives that have been lost to the insurgency since 2009?
In answering these questions, we must take cognisance of the various sources of information available concerning this incident. A statement by an official of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) to Nigeria’s First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan revealed that prior to the exams, there were warnings from the officials of WAEC to the Borno State government and the school authorities, suggesting that they relocate the girls to the more secure Maiduguri, the State Capital, for their exams. Strangely and unfortunately, those warnings went unheeded. Furthermore, before the insurgents arrived the ill-fated school that night, villagers from the neighbouring communities warned the residents of Chibok that the insurgents were headed their way.
Why were these warnings not heeded? We consider more information in our subsequent posts.
Mbaezue Emmanuel Chukwuemeka has a Masters of Science in Conflict Management and Peace Studies from University of Jos, Jos, Plateau State. He is a member of Institute of Chartered Mediators and Conciliators.