Where are our girls?

This is the most famous question in our country today. Unfortu­nately, it is a question no one has found any answer. No one can tell us categorically when the girls will return to the warm embrace of their parents.

202 days after, the news from the Boko Haram goons remains frightening: The girls have been forcefully married off after forceful conversion to a religion they never professed before their abduction. These are indeed frightening times. Amidst all these, our politicians are carrying on, as if all is well, pursuing their blind ambition for power as if the girls, or other Nigerians don’t matter.

Only recently, I did a piece, imploring the Boko Haram to free our girls. It was an appeal to the conscience of a group that hasn’t shown conscience in their war of at­trition against their country.

Please, go ahead and read the piece en­titled: Letter to Boko Haram…

Dear Boko Haram,

I should have started this letter by greet­ing you: Asalam Alekun, meaning: Peace be unto you. But how can anyone wish or offer you what you have precisely denied others, in the almost four years of your bloody reign? How can we ask the peace of the Lord or God’s or Allah’s blessings to be upon you, when all you have brought your compatriots are blood, war, tears and fear? How can we wish you good, when you wish us bad? How can we ever think well of you, when you display the worst form of cruelty towards your people, our people?

So, I will simply begin by saying: Wher­ever you are and whatever you are doing right now, I hope you find time out of your tight and deadly and deathly schedule to read this letter. It is a letter from a worried Nigerian; one who, like other citizens, is deeply disturbed and distraught at your ac­tivities. It is a letter to you, hoping some­one who knows someone in your organisa­tion will deliver it straight to you or bring it to your attention. I know you will get this letter because as we have heard over and over again, many of your operatives, even though they say ‘no to Western edu­cation’ are well-educated and quite literate. So, while you read secretly, kindly digest the contents with an open mind. Kindly read with a Godly mind, even though, you will agree, you can’t be said to have been Godly in your actions. God would never sanction the mindless killings of innocent citizens for whatever reasons or griev­ances. God is a God of life, a life-giver, not life-taker. God does not approve of the shed­ding of blood, especially innocent blood, by anyone or group under any guise. I digress too soon.



So, while you read, read without anger; read without bias. Read with the fear of God. Read with conscience. Read like human be­ings, with human feelings. I can hear some people, turning their nostrils up and won­dering if I am not asking for the impossible: Boko Haram, having fear of God and con­science? Boko Haram, having human feel­ings? You can’t blame anyone for feeling this way or being cynical about you: Yours have truly been unedifying tales of terror and bloodletting; a macabre dance of blood; harvest of tragedies. You have engaged in horrendous activities that have left the citi­zens terrified and horrified. You have struck everywhere, that no one knows where and when next you will strike.

You have struck at motor parks (Nyanya), at schools (Buni Yadi, Chibok, among others), at government of­fices and private residences; shopping malls and just anywhere, leaving sorrow, tears and blood in your trail. In your war without boundaries, you must have wasted over 2000 lives, and that is a conservative estimate, just as many of your members have been killed in the crackdown on your members by security agencies! Add that to the over 200 Chibok schoolgirls still in your custody, and you get a frightening portrait of your deadly exploits. Are the Chibok girls alive or dead? When will they regain freedom? No one knows.

Everyone is praying for the safe return of our girls, our sisters and our daughters. Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili and the other campaigners are asking the same questions without an­swer. Even President Jonathan can’t tell us when the girls will return. We all seem to be at your mercy but you remain merciless. Why? Why?

Now, Nigerians are asking: What does the Boko Haram want? When will enough be enough? That is precisely the reason for this letter to you. What do you want? When will enough be enough?

Some have said your actions are directed at the government of President Jonathan? If that is so, you are targeting the wrong group: The poor and the hapless. What has bombing bus stops and malls got to do with this? How will bombing bus stops and malls patronised by the common people help your cause?

It is difficult to comprehend how kidnap­ping innocent schoolgirls will help your fight against government. You can only succeed in uniting the people, as you have done, against what is seen as your deadly activities. As Prof. Wole Soyinka says, such action can only bring general resentment and collective angst against your group. So, you will have to stop your bloody activities. Your bloody outing is a war against the people, especially the common people of Nigeria, who have done you no wrong. So, why lay siege on the people?

If your purpose is religious supremacy or fundamentalism, credible Islamic pun­dits have dismissed your activities, as con­tradicting the tenets of Islam. Islam, they say, is a religion of peace and peaceful coexistence. So, what then is fueling the insurgency?

If your war against your people is for­eign-induced, you are embarking on the wrong kind of war, fighting a war against your people, for whatever reasons. If you destroy your land and people or succeed in maiming everybody, are you then going to live in a foreign country among foreign­ers? What medal would you have won, as destroyers of your country or as agents of foreign destroyers?

What I am saying is simple: If politics is your driving factor, it is politics taken too far. Hundreds of our people, poor, hap­less people, who know no politics or the power game, playing out have been caught in the crossfire: Bloodied and buried in the rubble of the atrocious battle.

If it is about religion, it just doesn’t add up: Christians and Muslims are being slaughtered in the bombing spree, going on. Bombs don’t discriminate on the basis of tribe or religion. Bombs bomb and kill. So, these killings must stop.

Dear Boko Haram, what I have been try­ing to do is to see if we can appeal to your sense of reasoning, to see how you can halt the tension and fear in our country today, by stopping the spectre of blood. Nigerians are weeping. Nigerians are dying. Nigeri­ans are living in fear. Because of you!

In Abuja and other major cities, every­one is looking over his or shoulders, scared that a bomb could go off any moment. The gardens and recreational centres are almost becoming empty because people are scared of being caught in explosions. If your aim is to terrify the citizenry, you have, we must sadly admit, largely suc­ceeded. If killing was your motive, you have killed enough. No further point is made in your continuous bombings and killings. It’s time to pause and ponder. It’s time to stop the killings. Please, stop. Enough is enough!

Last line: May God console those who have lost their dear and loved ones in the Boko Haram war against their country. To the dead, may they find peace and rest in the bossom of the Lord. May God Al­mighty bring peace to our beleaguered na­tion in Jesus mighty name. Amen.