Chibok Girls: Facts Behind their release

“The government is bandied about like a ball”- Cicero (106-43 BC).

The current efforts by the Nigerian Government to rescue the over 200 girls taken by members of the Boko Haram fighters from the Government Secondary School, Chibok, in Borno State, on April 14 this year, could itself be described as a war of some sort. But after many strident but failed attempts to liberate the captives from their captors, it has become clear to the Nigerian security men that the job requires more than bullets, tanks and fire but more of serious intelligence to keep the malevolent but ingenious men at bay.

While the security agents’ goal is to uproot them from the landscape and erase their memory from the annals of history, the terrorists, who have mastered the terrain in which they pitch their tents of war, also want to render the administration impotent in order to hoist their torn flags of caliphate system of administration, which is alien to most parts of the country – and indeed the whole world.

But unbridled mistrust among the Nigerian security agencies, whose duties it is to advise the President, commander-in-chief of the armed forces, to take accurate and decisive action against the terrorists, has contributed in no small measure to scuttle the efforts of Nigeria to win the war against the sect.

A competent source inside Aso Rock Presidential Villa explained to Sunday Vanguard that of the many security agencies, which churn out bundles of ‘security reports’ for the Presidency on a daily basis, only two actually work together and agree on several issues relating to the Boko Haram insurgents and their leadership.

The source said that the inability of the Nigerian security groups to work harmoniously for a common goal had resulted in the presentation of conflicting ‘security reports’ to the Presidency, thereby causing more confusion in the system than providing answers and clear operational direction against the insurgents.

It was learnt that that the mutual suspicion among the elite security agencies in Nigeria was responsible for the confusion surrounding the death of the leader of the Boko Haram sect, Abubakar Shekau.

It was gathered that while one of the Directors-General of a security outfit had provided incontrovertible evidence that Shekau was killed since 2013, most other top brass working very closely with the Presidency, had continued to impress upon the President that the man was alive.

For that reason, the President is said to have adopted what an insider calls a “wait-and-see attitude” towards the Shekau issue and believe the director-general or doubt his claim.

The confusion, it was further learnt, has given room to some loyalists of Shekau to receive huge financial support from the government under the guise of helping the top security managers to secure freedom for the abducted Chibok girls and end the circle of violence in parts of the North-East.

However, Sunday Vanguard sources hinted that unknown to the government security managers, most of the middlemen, who pose as close allies of Shekau and other top commanders of the Boko Haram sect, are actually businessmen, who are merely keen on ripping off the government and not sufficiently connected with the sect leadership to influence them in any way.

Sunday Vanguard investigation showed that the more money that was given to middlemen by the Nigerian government to some individuals and groups claiming to be working for Boko Haram with a view to releasing the girls, the more angry the real leadership of the sect had become and determined to frustrate all efforts to end violence.

How mistrust among security agents and Boko Haram factions scuttled last month’s rescue of Chibok girls

During the planned release of the girls to the Federal Government delegation, including members of the International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC, at the Federal Government College Yola, the team was frustrated for about two days. While the ICRC team had quietly arrived Yola and checked into a hotel in preparation for the release of the girls, the Federal Government delegation came with a Boeing 737 belonging to one of the commercial airlines in Nigeria. The plane, which touched down with seven men, was to wait for only two hours during which the captives were to be produced and handed over to the officials of the ICRC and the Federal Government delegation. But unfortunately, the plane was parked there for nine hours and at a point, the pilot decided to take off in frustration.

“It was one of the most embarrassing moments of our lives, as one senior military commander had to run after the aircraft on the runway, shouting at the top of his voice, and pleading with the pilot to stop when he left in protest,” the source explained.

Unknown to the delegation that had been waiting for the girls, Boko Haram commanders had called off any effort to release the girls, when the different security agencies could not agree on the total number of the sect’s commanders in their custody and their specific locations.

“Trouble became imminent when Boko Haram commanders gave a list of ten of its commanders and asked that they be produced before further discussion and the security agencies could not produce even five.

“Next, the sect negotiators came up with a list of 16 of its officials, whom they claimed were being detained in various jails but the security agents could not agree on their locations and did not produce the number. The real problem is that the sect leaders are asking for what the security agencies do not seem to know about.

“We knew there would be trouble but we never imagined that it could lead to an embarrassing situation where the government would take a plane to go and wait indefinitely at Yola airport for the insurgents to release the girls and they refuse.”

Why Idris Derby is leading current ceasefire talks on behalf of Nigeria

Over the years and since coming to power on December 2, 1990, Derby has remained a close friend of Ali Modu Sherriff, the former Governor of Borno State. The Army General is reputed to have an overriding influence over many groups in his country, Niger, Central African Republic and Cameroun. The way the Chadian leader was able to manage the Seleka rebels in CAR has undoubtedly convinced the Nigerian Government that Derby has the magic wand to bring the Boko Haram insurgents under control since the members are somewhat connected to groups in Sudan, Libya, Niger, Chad and Cameroun that have fought and made peace directly or otherwise with other groups in his country.

The Ali Modu Sherriff connection: an asset and liability to PDP, Jonathan

But in trying to secure a ceasefire deal, Derby who is a bosom friend of Sherriff, has not left out the former governor, who has been severely criticised and mentioned as one of those who brought Boko Haram into existence. But he has denied involvement, insisting that he is a victim rather than a sponsor of Boko Haram, following allegation by Australian negotiator, Dr. Stephen Davis.

The involvement of Sherriff in the talks, it was gathered, has also angered some Boko Haram factions opposed to Sherriff, whom they argue, should be investigated by security agencies and brought to book. But the former governor might never be prosecuted since he has already made a tactical crossover to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and given assurances that he will use his clout to drive away the opposition there and give the much needed victory to the PDP and by extension, President Jonathan in 2015.

While he may be seen as an asset to the PDP and Jonathan, his presence in the party and his closeness to Derby, are likely to infuriate a faction of Boko Haram and some senior politicians in Borno, who fear that his defection to PDP and the belated attempt at pre-election moment to free the Chibok girls, are geared towards helping President Jonathan and his party to win elections rather than genuinely bringing about peace in the North-East. He is seen more as a liability to Nigeria and as a selfish and drowning politician seeking for an escape route out of a monster he created in the past.

While the ongoing ceasefire in Chad appears to have hit a brick wall as result of conflict of interest from both the security agencies in Nigeria and the Boko Haram factions, the import is however not lost that the pecuniary interests could be laid down at least temporarily for the girls to be set free and be reunited with their agonising families. But this is what the whole world is watching with keen interest to see if it will work out on Monday as a man, who calls himself, the Director-General of Boko Haram, Mallam Danladi Ahmadu, who has repeatedly given the assurance that the latest deal with the Nigeria Government is genuine and on course.

Danladi Ahmadu, who reportedly spoke on the Hausa Service of the Voice of America

VOA, insisted that the Chiboks girls would be freed on Monday (tomorrow).

From right; President Idriss Deby of Chad; President Goodluck Jonathan 

and former governor of Borno State,

 Senator Ali Modu Sheriff at a meeting in Chad.

According to Ahmadu, the Chibok Girls would be released on Monday to the Chadian President, Idris Derby for onward presentation to the Nigerian Government.

He added that Boko Haram and the Nigerian Government were in close consultations over arrangements for the Monday meeting in Chad and that after the meeting all attacks would cease.

Ahmadu confirmed the infiltration of Boko Haram by middlemen, who were giving it a bad name, claiming that last week’s abduction of 60 girls in Madagali LGA of Adamawa State was not carried out by the sect.  ”Political thugs, armed robbers, kidnappers, hired assassins and other anti-social groups now parade themselves as members of the Boko Haram sect,” Ahmadu claimed.

As the nation eagerly awaits the wrapping up of the ceasefire between the sect and Nigeria, the question remains: “Will the Nigerian security agencies and Boko Haram put their houses in order at least for once and give us the needed respite?”