Kidnapped 11 Fgc Yauri, Kebbi State Schoolgirls: The Failure Of A Government

Dr Abubakar Alkali (Convener, Movement for a New Nigeria, MNN)

What more deficts the failure of a government than the fact that 11 schoolgirls of federal government college (FGC) Yauri Kebbi state are still in the hands of terrorists after 19 months? This is a sad story and makes one wonder if indeed there is a government in Nigeria.

Yes, if there is a government in Nigeria, how is it that the authorities cannot use information and communications technology (ICT) to trace these innocent girls and follow up with military force to rescue the girls in a manner that will ensure that the girls are unharmed? In October 2020, the United States special forces SEAL Team six came to Nigeria and rescued Philip Walton, an American citizen in the hands of kidnappers unharmed. Mr Walton was kidnapped in Niger Republic but the kidnappers knew full well that Niger Republic will bust them so they brought their American captive to Nigeria, where kidnappers operate with unbelievable freedom. If Americans can rescue Mr Walton from kidnappers unharmed, what stops our government from asking America the magic they applied to rescue Mr Walton unharmed and use it to rescue the innocent schoolgirls?

19 months in captivity and counting, the terrorists use mobile phones to negotiate with the parents of the schoolgirls yet the communications authorities cannot trace and track the terrorists even if to help the military organise a rescue mission.

Where are the satellites and drones?

Why can’t the communications authorities deploy technology to digitally demobilise these terrorists and deny them the use of mobile phones? What happened to the SIM-NIN policy that was purportedly initiated by the federal ministry of communications to deny kidnappers the use of mobile phones to perpetrate their evil act?

After the release of some of the abducted schoolchildren, you wonder why these released schoolchildren  cannot be used by the security agencies for intelligence gathering to storm the terrorists location and rescue the other captives.

Recall that on Thursday 17 June 2021, Nigerians woke up to the news of yet another mass abduction of innocent school children by terrorists a.k.a bandits/kidnappers. During the attack on FGC Yauri, the terrorists were able to kidnap 112 schoolchildren and 8 teachers. All the captives were released except the remaining 11 school girls. Out of the remaining schoolgirls, 4 have delivered babies for terrorists while in captivity. The mother of Farida Kaoje, one of the kidnapped schoolgirls who delivered a baby in captivity died of stroke on hearing that her daughter delivered a baby for the terrorists leader Dogo Gide.

Farida Kaoje is reported to be forcefully married to Dogo Gide, the terrorist leader.

Other girls in captivity including the 4 who put to bed, have also been reported to be married off to terrorists.

A COSTLY NEGLIGENCE

The FGC Yauri mass abduction of schoolchildren is a clear case of negligence by the school authorities. In fact the terrorists have written a warning letter to the school on June 12 2021 in which they made it clear that they are going to attack the school soon. The terrorists even listed the full names of 12 girls in the school as their main targets in the letter.

The letter was handed over to the school authorities but they (school authorities) dismissed it as fake and threw it into the dust bin.

5 days after that letter, precisely on 17 June 2021, the terrorists struck and kidnapped 112 school children -boys and girls – and 8 teachers.

Few days before the abduction, the school authorities were informed by eagle-eyed locals about gunshots around the school.    The school authorities were also informed that terrorists with guns and moving a herd of cattle from the nearby town of Kimo into the  bush were sited around FGC Yauri. Instead of closing down the school to avert the pending kidnap of schoolchildren, the school authorities did nothing, dismissing everything as fake in a cavalier and lax manner. Life went on. It was long time coming and a disaster waiting to happen.  

Even the abduction of the Salihu Tanko Islamiyya school children some as young as 8 years old in nearby Tegina, Niger state on 24 May 2021, should have served as an early warning signal to the FGC Yauri school authorities that there is danger looming around the school to prompt the indefinite closure of the school.

 

From Chibok in Borno state to kankara in Katsina state to Jangebe in Zamfara state to Tegina in Niger state to Bakura in Zamfara state and to Yauri in Kebbi state, it is clear that the abduction of innocent schoolchildren may not stop anytime soon if drastic and concerted efforts are not made by the government against the terrorists.

The government has promised free education but cannot guarantee the safety of school children. As a master of fact, if the government cannot provide security to schoolchildren who are the most vulnerable members of the society, it is fair to say that such government has failed. If you cannot provide security, why ask parents to send their children to school?

Recall that section 14(2)(b) of the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) is clear, explicit and unambiguous that ‘the security of life and property shall be the primary purpose of government’

If a government cannot provide security to school children, it has failed in its primary responsibility and has lost the moral ground to exist.

These terrorists who kidnapped the innocent schoolgirls didn’t take the schoolgirls to space or Jupiter or any other planet. They are in Nigeria. As a matter of fact, the girls are reported to be kept by the terrorists in a nearby bush in Kebbi state. Yet Nigeria with all its resources cannot rescue these schoolgirls – 19 months and counting. The parents of these schoolchildren who are among the voters who voted this government to power based on the promise to provide security, are kept in constant psychological torture.

These innocent schoolgirls have forcefully been conscripted into motherhood at a time they didn’t plan. They went in search of education for a better future but ended up being abducted and facing a destroyed future. The lives of the 11 innocent FGC Yauri schoolgirls will never be the same again due to no fault of theirs but the failure of government.

This is the greatest tragedy of a nation.

 

  DR ABUBAKAR ALKALI

   alkalizai@yahoo.com

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