BUHARI SETTING UP "21 CHIBOK GIRLS" AS A "TROPHY" TO BE PRESENTED TO THE GERMAN GOVERNMENT

 By Temple Chima Ubochi:

The Nigerian government is deceitful, but the problem is that even a kindergarten pupil can craft a lie better than this government. I wonder if this government sees everybody as a fool who can swallow its cheap lies hook, line and sinker.

For months, the Nigerian government, in tandem with the Nigerian military, has been lying to the world that it has almost exterminated Boko Haram, as such, that the sect can no longer take any Nigerian territory or cause any major havoc again. The military maintained that it's only a matter of weeks before the sect is routed once and for all. Then, all of a sudden, the sect that was on the "brink of extermination", threatened to capture and kill President Buhari, and then, the Nigerian military dismissed the threat as the figment of the imagination of the terrorists. Even the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai, boasted: "You can beat your chest and say, 'Yes, we've defeated the Boko Haram insurgents to the extent that they are not holding or administering any territory in Nigeria right now as they were before".

According to Premium Times, "Rabe Abubakar, a brigadier general, and spokesperson for Nigeria's Defence Headquarters, while reacting to a video by Boko Haram, in which the group threatened to capture President Muhammadu Buhari 'live', said that the terrorist group is dead and only using social media to give false impressions. General Abubakar, on Wednesday, September 14, 2016, urged Nigerians to attach no significance to the threats, and to 'simply ignore' the video, because Boko Haram had been destroyed beyond redemption by the Nigerian military. In his words: "The issue of the threat to capture President Muhammadu Buhari is a complete joke and a dream of the century. Therefore, the entire clip should be ignored as everybody is appreciative of our feat against Boko Haram. It is not just an empty threat; it is a threat that has no substance at all. It is a senseless threat from their imagination. Nigerians should simply ignore it. The only ground the Boko Haram can go to hide and pretend to be alive is the social media, because it is everybody's home, where sources can hardly be traced. The so-called video is an attempt by the remnants to remind us that there were once some Boko Haram elements. I believe the group is near ending, the video is a complete sign of weakness and poses no threat to us."

The Boko Haram, the Nigeria military claimed it has almost routed, then struck few days later, on September 18, killing at least eight people outside a church in Kwamjilari village, about 30 kilometres (19 miles) east of the town of Chibok, in Borno State. The Vanguard also reported that a similar attack in the area, a month before, left 10 people dead, and saw 13 others kidnapped, while homes were looted and set on fire.

The Army spokesman, Rabe Abubakar, boasted on Wednesday 14, 2016, that Boko Haram has almost been wiped out. But how do we reconcile it that the same military, according to the Sun, on September 18, said that (it) has begun moves to recall hundreds of retired generals, officers and soldiers into the battlefield, following its combat engagement in at least 10 operations across the country. The decision to recall the retired officers was taken in order to strengthen their colleagues who are still in active service, and are presently overstretched due to the unending war against Boko Haram in the Northeast, Niger Delta militants in the South-South, and other arm-bearing gangs across the country. The Paper wrote that the recall of the retired officers, whose experiences cannot be purchased in the open market, became necessary following reports of how the insurgents were killing their colleagues on the battlefield. The Director, Defence Information, Gen Abubakar Rabe, confirmed the move. A former Military Secretary, Shehu Usman Abdulkadir, who is a retired Major General with the Nigerian Army, also confirmed the bid in an interview with Saturday Sun".

As I wrote previously, the Nigerian military horripilates and feels more helpless and weak when facing the insurgents. How can one explain it that the Nigerian military has been unable to rout the insurgents, despite the training and wherewithal at the disposal of its personnel. Also, the Nigerian government and military have been incapable of rescuing all the abducted Chibok Girls, despite their boast that the sect has been decimated, and despite the fact that the United States, and some other western countries, have provided some aid to the region in its fight against the terrorist group, including U.S. drones that fly reconnaissance missions from a base in northern Cameroon.

President Buhari had to beg the United Nations to help Nigeria here. Speaking during a bilateral meeting with the UN Secretary General, at the sidelines of the 71st UN General Assembly in New York, few weeks ago, President Buhari said the Nigerian government was willing to bend over backwards, to get the Chibok girls released from captivity. He told the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, that Nigeria would welcome intermediaries from the global body.

Then, President Buhari was billed to travel to Germany, and his spokesman told us that the issues of security and economy will be taking the centre stage during the three-day official visit from October 13 to 15. While in Berlin, the President would confer with Chancellor Angela Merkel on issues such as cooperation on security, the humanitarian situation of Internally Displaced Persons, and the rehabilitation of the North-East, as well as trade and economic relations between both countries.

Then, 24 hours before he left for Germany, Boko Haram gave Buhari something he will be forced to explain to the Germans about. On Wednesday, October 12, many traders and travellers were feared killed, as an improvised explosive, suspected to have been planted by Boko Haram insurgents, went off outside a car park in Maiduguri, Borno State. So, how can a defeated sect wreck such havoc, and on the eve of the president's important visit to Germany? Remember that Buhari made the defeating of Bok Haram, and the rescuing of the Chibok Girls the fulcrum of his campaign leading to his election, and that was one of the reasons the west, including Germany, supported his candidacy. Something must be done to minimize the damages, from this latest bomb blast on the eve of his visit to Germany, otherwise, president Buhari would seem weak before the Germans, and no more assistance will flow from there. Remember that Buhari's government requested to buy some military weapons from Germany, and just like the United States, the request has been frustrated or almost rejected due to human rights violations the Nigerian security forces are well known for.

The president must have something to present to the German government, showing the result of his effort in the war against Boko Haram; something must be presented to the Germans as a sign that the total defeat of Bok Haram will be imminent, if the right support is received from the west. Remember President Buhari's visit to Germany has insecurity /Boko Haram as its focal point, and so, there's no way the president will travel to Germany empty handed, without something to show the host government that he is committed to the fight against the terrorists, otherwise, no more financial assistance will flow, and no military equipment might be sold to the Nigerian government. Then, all of a sudden, twenty-one of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls regained their freedom.

This shows that some people in this government know the whereabouts of those girls; let them stop deceiving us. They did everything then to discredit President Goodluck Jonathan, thereby making Nigeria ungovernable for him, as they promised, and his re-election an impossible task, and they succeeded all round. Even if the government said that the Red Cross and the Swiss government helped in the negotiations which led to the release of the girls, everything might have been stage-managed to make it look real. Everything might have been a game!

I wonder how the Germans will believe that it was a coincidence that on the eve of President Buhari's visit to their country, 21 of the missing girls were rescued or released, through whatever means. If the Buhari government was sensible and clever enough, it would have plotted this, a week or two, before the travel to Germany; so that nobody will accuse it of planning the whole thing to hoodwink the Germans in order get more assistance from them. As I pointed above, there's a pending request, for the provision of material support to the Nigerian military, before the German government, and this request is most likely to be rejected, based on the poor human rights records of the military, but the Buhari's government wanted to push again, probably for the last time, for the request's approval, and so, the Nigerian government feels that the news of the21 Chibok Girls will effect a change of heart in Berlin, making the German government to soften its hard stance on the issue. I'm skeptical here, and would be surprised, if the Germans would be swayed by this gimmick, afterall, they are even more intelligent than the Americans.

I checked all the major news in Germany, and none of them carried any news about President Buhari's visit to Germany, showing the little or no importance accorded to his visit here.

 Me thinks that the whole abduction saga is a scam, or that this government knows where the abducted girls are, and would want to use the release of few of them, from time to time, to achieve its goals. Whether it succeeds or not would be another thing entirely! You can't tell me that some months ago, only one of the kidnapped girls was release, and everywhere was agog, and her picture was everywhere, that even a presidential jet was sent to Maiduguri to fetch her to Abuja to meet the president, and now, 21 of them were said to have regained their freedom, and everywhere is quiet, and everything low-keyed. This government knows what it's up to; it should release all the girls at once.

Not too long ago, President Buhari boasted that the military had started winning the war against the Boko Haram sect, and that for about weeks now; there have been no further reports of the sect seizing more territory. As I wrote previously, looking at the havoc wrecked so far by the insurgents in the country, the Nigerian military should have been ashamed that a "ragtag outfit" gave it such a tough time, and disgraced it even till now. Apart from the other missing Chibok Girls, the insurgents have caused unquantifiable damages in Nigeria. Do we start talking about the lives and property lost to the insurgency, or the inconveniences the insurgents put thousands through. I hope we can take the president by his words; so let the military get this war behind us, once and for all, and let all the abducted girls be freed all at once.