Elder statesman Chief Edwin Clark on Monday accused the President Bola Tinubu government of treating, with levity, the rescue of the remaining Chibok schoolgirls still in Boko Haram captivity.
Addressing a press conference in his Abuja residence to mark a decade of abduction of 276 girls from their hostel in Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, he said other countries would have treated the incident better than what has been done in Nigeria.
Eighty-nine of the girls still remain with their Boko Haram insurgent abductors, while the rest have been rescued.
Noting that the two previous administrations did not treat the matter as a priority, he called on the Tinubu government to set up a task force of dedicated individuals to storm the Sambisa forest within a given time frame to rescue them.
Clark said: “It appears to some of us that President Tinubu’s government is not making serious efforts to rescue the remaining Chibok girls. About 90 of them are still missing after 10 years.
“This should be a source of worry and concern to any government of a serious nation.
“I recall that in October 2020, when a United States of America (USA) citizen, Mr Philip Walton, was held hostage between the Niger Republic and Nigeria, the government of the United States deployed one of its machines, the Naval Special Warfare Group, popularly known as SEAL Team Six, who rescued Mr Walton in Nigeria.
“The then President of the US, Mr. Donald Trump, followed the matter to a conclusion.
“When Mr Philip was rescued, President Trump was so excited that a citizen of his country held hostage had been rescued and described the action as a ‘big win for our very elite U. S. Special Forces.’
“Also, speaking on the incident, the then US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, said, ‘The United States is committed to the safe return of all U.S. citizens taken captive. We delivered on that commitment late last night in Nigeria, where some of our bravest and most skilled warriors rescued a U. S. citizen after a group of armed men took him, hostage, across the border in Niger.’ Why is the case of Nigeria different?
“In the case of the U. S., it was just one person, yet the government of the country went all out to ensure his rescue. In Nigeria, we are still talking about 90 girls still missing, 10 years later.
“I, therefore, call on President Bola Tinubu to set up a powerful taskforce made up of dedicated, loyal and transparent security men to go into the Sambisa Forest, Borno State, Yobe State, or wherever these citizens are, to look for these girls and rescue them.
“In giving this advice, I also want to add that a time limit should be given to them to carry out this task.
“It is shameful and a source of embarrassment that the two previous federal administrations did not treat this matter as a priority.
“In my position, I have witnessed the performance of the various Executive Presidents that have ruled Nigeria from 1999 till date and the role each of them played in the Chibok girls’ issue.”
The leader of the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) recalled that former
President Obasanjo came into contact with Boko Haram in 2003 “when he chased them out of Sambisa Forest.”
He added: “In 2009, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was to visit Brazil, but the upsurge of Boko Haram in Borno State affected his travel because they had to send security men to Maiduguri.
“There was no serious effort made, but the little effort made by President Jonathan was thwarted and sabotaged by the state government in the North-East.
“President Buhari sent his Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Buratai, to the war front in Borno State to rescue the Chibok girls, but the story was different; the Chief of Army Staff diverted the resources to build a university in Biu. There was no serious effort by President Buhari again.
“I was also disappointed that President Bola Tinubu, in his inaugural speech, did not mention anything about the Chibok girls, and in fact, he has not done anything to set up a special task force, whose duty is mainly to search for the Chibok girls and rescue them.
“Some of us have played our part in the rescue of the Chibok girls; it is a national tragedy that must not be ignored.”
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