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The unending Boko Haram murders

Published by The Nation on Sat, 20 Oct 2018


ON September 2, 2018, the Sunday edition of this newspaper published a piece entitled Leah Sharibu and presidential fatalism. Written by Barometer, the brief essay bemoaned the inscrutable approach adopted by the Muhammadu Buhari presidency in rescuing three abducted healthcare workers and a schoolgirl taken from Dapchi Government Girls Science and Technical College in Yobe State. The columnist was unhappy that the governments approach did not seem as urgent as the situation demanded, nor as optimistic as was expected of a government on whose shoulders the fate of the four young women rested. Less than two weeks after the piece was written, one of the three healthcare workers, Saifura Hussaini Khorsa, was murdered by her abductors, a splinter Boko Haram group called the Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP). Apart from Leah Sharibu, the Yobe State schoolgirl, two other abducted women, Hauwa Liman and Alice Loksha, remained in the custody of their abductors. But on Monday, after a deadline given by ISWAP expired, Miss Liman was also murdered.Responding to the execution, the presidency said they tried their best to secure the ladies release. According to the Information minister, Lai Mohammed, everything a responsible government should do to save the aid workers had been done. Few believed them; even fewer still felt comforted by the governments failure. Both Miss Liman and Miss Khorsa worked in a hospital supported by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Rann, Bala Kalge Local Government of Borno State, while Miss Loksha works in a health facility supported by UNICEF. The healthcare workers were abducted on March 1, 2018 during a raid on the town. However, the ICRC had alerted the government 24 hours earlier on October 14, 2018 of the impending execution of one of the healthcare workers if the government did not accede to the terms of the insurgents. According to a release issued by ISWAP after the October 15, 2018 execution, the healthcare workers were executed because they had converted to Christianity and the abductors had no religious obligation to ensure their safety.The September 2, 2018 Barometer column in reference took exception to the governments approach to the Miss Sharibu abduction with the following arguments: When he was asked how much longer the last abducted Dapchi schoolgirl, Leah Sharibu, would remain in captivity, presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, offered a theological answer. For how much longer', Mr Adesina asked rhetorically, I think that question can only be answered by God, but I believe God is interested in that young girl and will ensure that she is preserved and at least by the time that clip is verified, one will be sure that it is her actually, and once that is determined, we should all be glad that she is alive. When will she return' By the grace of God, the government is working on it and we believe she will be back.The question no one has really asked, and for which the government would be hard put to give an answer, is why Miss Sharibu was left behind. About six months ago, a faction of Boko Haram, abducted some 105 schoolgirls from Government Girls Secondary School, Dapchi. About a month later, the federal government negotiated their release from captivity, leaving Miss Sharibu behind. There was no indication the government negotiators knew a girl was left behind, presumably on account of her Christian confession, until after the dramatic return of the rest by a cavalcade of insurgents. But even if it is suggested that the government knew, it is even more inexplicable that they did not recognise the immorality of leaving, perhaps abandoning, Miss Sharibu. If the government knew but chose to accept Boko Haram terms, it was indefensible; if they didnt know, it was indefensible still and, much more, unforgivably negligent.Of course God knows everything. This is unquestionable. But for Mr Adesina to put everything about the rescue of Miss Sharibu at the doorstep of God in the typical and almost offensive religiosity of Nigerians and their leaders is to embrace the abrasive fatalism that dogs religions in these parts and is often deployed as an extenuating factor to explain poor leadership.The abductors, it turns out, have shown no mercy. After executing the first healthcare worker on September 16, 2018, public outrage was insufficient to discourage the terrorists from going ahead to carry out a second execution in line with their twisted religious ideology. They swore to turn Miss Sharibu into a slave after the expiration of the deadline given the Nigerian government to come to terms with ISWAP. In their announcement of the execution of Miss Liman, the group also declared that Miss Sharibu had become a slave. No one has controverted their statements. In fact few now doubt them. They could yet come out on a portentous tomorrow to issue another deadline in connection with the freedom of the abductees. Should they give another deadline, and given their antecedents and evil reputation, there will be no reason to doubt their readiness or callousness to carry out their murderous threats.So far, the government has not disclosed just what their best was in fighting for the freedom of the abducted aid workers and the Dapchi schoolgirl. They met the terms for the release of over 100 abducted Dapchi schoolgirls last March, from which Miss Sharibu was left behind because of governmental carelessness, and those terms were truly cheeky and humiliating. What other terms could be so galling that the government cannot meet' Perhaps the terms are stupendously humbling, and the government is wary of meeting them. But after meeting the terms given by Boko Haram in other abductions, starting with the Chibok schoolgirls, some of whom were freed in October 2016 and May 2017, it no longer remained a question of the propriety or morality of negotiating with terrorists or of negotiating under duress; it became one of whether the terms were such that the government could meet or not meet them. In the case of the three healthcare workers and the Dapchi schoolgirl, it is inconceivable that the government could not meet the terms set by ISWAP. From all indications, there will be no end to abductions, nor, apparently, an end to setting galling terms.The federal government said it did its best to negotiate the freedom of the ladies. Its confessions do not exculpate it of responsibility for the death of the girls, both in constitutional terms involving its responsibility in ensuring the safety of citizens and its responsibility of taking a second chance (deadline) given the government by terrorists to free abducted citizens. Someone absolutely has to take the blame. The government cannot disclaim responsibility. The terrorists at least let it be known that they were willing to negotiate, and they even gave deadlines. So, the government cannot suggest that there were no communication channels to negotiate the freedom of the ladies. What indeed seemed to have gone wrong was that the government could either not sense the urgency of the whole matter or it felt unable to meet the terms of the terrorists. Either way, they owe Nigerians an explanation. If the terms were too severe, then what were those terms' The ladies are being executed one after the other, the government can no longer claim to be entitled to secrecy of action or negotiation. It is time the public judged whether the terrorists were being too unreasonable or the government was being too lackadaisical, contrary to claims.One aid worker is still with the abductors, and the schoolgirl Miss Sharibu has presumably being turned into a slave. It would be tragic in the extreme were these two ladies to be executed while the government claims to be doing its best to rescue them. Hopefully the terrorists will announce their next deadlines. When they do, Nigerians must hope their government will feel both the sense of urgency and the obligation to let the world know what the unreasonable ISWAP terms are and why they cannot be met, thereby justifying future executions. It is hard to imagine that the presidency can satisfactorily explain another failure regarding the fate of the last two abductees. Perhaps the government never thought ISWAP could go so far. Now that they know, it may be time for them to eschew their fatalism and do more than their customary best in rescuing the last abductees.
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