Chibok girls: US pledges support for Nigeria on fight against terrorism

.As human rights lawyer identifies 3 heroes of the abduction

Ibrahim Quadri

As Nigeria marks a decade abduction of 276 schoolgirls in Chibok in Borno State by Boko Haram terrorists, the United States has pledged to support Nigeria’s war against terrorism.

The.pledge was contained in a statement issued by the spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, Aishah Gambari, on Sunday.

The Chibok abduction had profound and far-reaching consequences, both nationally and internationally. It highlighted the vulnerability of school children in conflict zones and exposed the brutality of Boko Haram’s insurgency.

The hashtag “Bring Back Our Girls” campaign galvanized global support for the victims and their families. But despite widespread condemnation, about 89 girls remain missing to this day.

Ms Gambari said the U.S. would also support Nigeria’s terrorism survivors and their families, saying that the U.S.-Nigeria partnership was built on a foundation of shared values and common goals.

According to her, the U.S. will continue to support Nigeria’s efforts to combat terrorism, and to hold perpetrators of terrorist attacks accountable, as well as guarantee citizens’ safety and well-being.

The statement read, “The partnership between the United States and Nigeria is built on a foundation of shared values and common goals.

“We will continue to work together to promote peace, security, and stability in the region, and to support initiatives that foster education, economic growth, and human rights.

“As we mark one decade since this terrible act, we reaffirm our support for the survivors, their families, and all those affected by terrorism.

“The United States stands with Nigeria in its fight against extremism and its commitment to creating a safer, more prosperous future for all its people,” Gambari said.

In a related development, an international human rights lawyer, Barr Emmanuel Ogebe has identified three heroes who played prominent roles in the release of about 103 and brought the issue to global attention.

Ogebe, a prominent U.S based international human rights lawyer in Washington,who was exiled to America after abduction and torture by late dictator, Sani Abacha, for protesting the assassination of pro-democracy icon, Kudirat Abiola over the Nigerian 1993 election.

Speaking on LN news, The Agenda, Ogebe expressed sadness “to see a situation where America is lying about rescuing Chibok girls.”

He gave a list of the  heroes, “So let me be very clear. I’m a human rights lawyer. I have been for over 30 years. You know I have fought military misrule in Nigeria. I have fought military democratic misrule in Nigeria consistently for that entire period of time. America has been an ally in some of the struggles, to enthrone democracy in Nigeria.

“America has been helpful in providing me political asylum when my own country imprisoned and tortured me, you know, so it is very sad for me to see a situation where America is lying about rescuing Chibok girls.

“Which they did not do. I was very shocked when a dear friend and colleague, an American law professor drew my attention to a publication that claimed that the CIA rescued 30 Chibok girls, a book that was released just a few months ago, which you just referenced the secret history of women in CIA.

“And when I read it, it was just full of falsehoods. Nothing like that has happened. And what that tells me is this, it is another example of white appropriation. I don’t know what it is about this Chibok story that people are just crawling out of the woodwork, trying to claim what is not theirs.

“The fact of the matter Is that when it comes to the release of those 103 girls, there are three heroes who were responsible, who were the remote catalysts for the freedom of those 103 girls.

“As I said in my article One was the media and especially CNN. How did that happen? CNN leaked the proof of life video of the chibok girls that Boko Haram had given to the Buhari regime and asked them to pay ransom and release prisoners, so that the girls would be released and Buhari refused to watch the video and refused to act on it since 2016 that he didn’t want to be emotionally disturbed. So, he refused to watch it.

“So, CNN obtained it and released the video to the public. And when the entire world saw the children begging for their lives for the first time since 2014, he touched a nerve. I was in Abuja at the time and I was with the parents of the children who were shown on the video and the whole world saw it. And so there was an outcry and pressure were mounted on Buhari to do something about children. That was one factor.

“The second factor was the appearance of Amina Ali. After two years in the forest, Amina escaped and came out with her baby. And when her baby was seen and everybody saw that these girls were still alive and one of them was able to come out again, the world was touch. It went around the world.

“I remember waking up that morning my phone rang a journalist from London called me. Can I confirm that A Chibok girl just came out from a captivity? I woke up, I called my contacts in Nigeria fortunately, I was in touch with Amina’s family and all of that and they confirmed to me that it was Amina So it had it a reverberated effect around the world. So that put pressure.

“And then thirdly, the global bring back our girl’s campaign in the United States Congress. Myself, the speaker of the house, Nancy Pelosi congressman Frederica Wilson, congresswoman, Sheila Jackson Lee you know so many people came together to mount pressure. These were the factors that forced Buhari to take it seriously and bring these girls back.

“So for the CIA to now come and claim that they organized an operation and rescued 30 girls is false. It was 21 girls that Buhari paid for their rescue.”

On what could be responsible for CIA to purportedly claimed glory, he noted, “That is what we’re talking about. Anything that you see, there’s a saying that success has many fathers and failure is an orphan.

“You know, look at some of the efforts we did, you know, like I took Chibok girls to America and put them in schools. People who didn’t do that, who had no vision now began to compete against me. Now went to go and carry the girls out to one and claim credits for what they didn’t do. This is the kind of world in which we are.”