April 14, 2024, will mark a decade since the first mass abduction of 278 students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno South. After ten years of manhunt and expensive military actions, over 100 of these students remain unaccounted for.
Mass abductions of innocent Nigerians have continued unabated. Out of the eleven states of the North-East and North-West, for instance, only Jigawa, Kano, Bauchi and Gombe states have so far escaped the ugly experience of mass abductions of students and women.
Recently, terrorists launched a fresh attack on the Dogon-Noma community, Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State, and abducted 15 women and a man.
Again, on March 17, no fewer than 87 women, children and others were abducted in a fresh attack on the Kajuru community in Kaduna State.
Where is the Federal Government, which controls the army, the air force, the police and other security agencies? How are kidnappers, bandits or terrorists able to mobilise and seize 287 students and teachers from their school in daylight in Kuriga, about 20 minutes’ drive from Birnin Gwari, which is supposed to have a military base? Why are the army and air force left alone to tackle these criminals? And why have they not been able to evolve effective strategies to wipe out these criminals?
Imagine, for a moment, the logistics involved in moving 287 persons, most of them children. From infographics published by LEADERSHIP the day after, it would take 144 motorcycles, 57 cars, 21 buses, or five 4.8 Embraer-145 planes, to move that number of people.
Yet, for the umpteenth time since 2014, children were kidnapped in their numbers by bandits who still managed to plan, coordinate, and execute this evil act in an area supposedly cut off from communications. How did that happen?
It’s heart-wrenching to think that even though we’re told that Kuriga and other affected parts have been cut off from communications, we still hear of the criminals asking for ransom and issuing threats!
Many of the students and other vulnerable citizens abducted over the years in Yobe, Kaduna, Katsina, Niger, Sokoto, Zamfara, Kebbi, Borno and Adamawa states can no longer be accounted for. These include the youth corps members from Akwa Ibom State reporting for national assignment in Sokoto State.
One is pushed to ask, What role do the police and other security agencies play in protecting the people? What do our security men and women do to ensure that these abductions are prevented and solved through intel and digital technology?
Apart from intimidating protesters and the opposition, what does the Department of State Security do? How do these criminals manage to move hundreds of human beings into their hideouts without detection?
We must seek answers to these pressing questions.
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