By Jibrin Ibrahim
(Abuja #BringBackOurGirls Rally of 2ND May 2014)In continuation of the Abuja #BringBackOurGirls campaign, another rally held this afternoon at Freedom Fountain. There was a briefing on the result of the visit to the Office of the national Security Adviser by a delegation of the Movement. General Bello Sarkin Yaki, the Head of the counter terrorism unit, received them. The delegation in their address stressed the importance of more concerted action against the insurgents and the need to engage with local communities to get and use their intelligence and to regularly brief Nigerians on what exactly they are doing. They pointed out that the Chibok attack took place over four hours and their journey back with the girls was monitored by local communities for 48 hours and no security
agencies responded to information throughout the period. In his response, General Sarkin Yaki stressed the complexities and challenges in asymmetric warfare based on ideological persuasion that includes absence of the fear of death.
Senator Ahmed Zanna from Borno State also addressed the rally. He expressed his concern that since the abduction, he had received regular updates on the location of the girls and passed on the information to the security agencies but no follow up happened. The Borno State Government has also been following the movement of the girls through tips from communities (but) the security agencies are refusing to take the Government into confidence. He added that over the past 24 hours, four more girls have escaped as they were being loaded into boats to change their location. The whereabouts of the girls has never been a secret he concluded, what has been difficult to understand is the reluctance of security agencies to do their work.
Finally, he lamented the fact that the huge security vote appropriated for the war against the insurgency has not been used for the purpose of buying equipment to prosecute the war, as there is no evidence of any new supplies over the period.
The rally lamented the lack of equipment, weapons, logistics, welfare and life insurance for the troops and called for urgent action to equip and motivate our troops for that they can do their work effectively. The Rally took the following decisions:
1) The Movement will immediately march to the office of the Chief of Defence Staff to brief him on our concerns and seek a detailed briefing on the state of field operations.
2) The Movement committed itself to continue to seek citizen’s solutions to end terrorism including tracking the huge appropriations for the war that have apparently not been used for the stated purpose and encouraging security agencies and communities to cooperate with each other.
3) The Movement established four committees to enable it carry out its work more effectively – mobilisation and outreach, resources, media and communications, and legal. A steering Committee was also established.
4) Rally participants committed to mobilising more participants for tomorrow. COME ONE, COME ALL.
