President Muhammadu Buhari, pictured above in dark glasses, yesterday, held a meeting with some parents of the abducted Chibok girls and some of the activists campaigning for their release yesterday at the banquet hall of the presidential villa in Abuja, Nigeria's capital.
He reportedly marched out the press, and later stormed out in anger after telling the parents that he did not know where their daughters were. There were plenty of reactions to president Buhari's alleged "stone cold" behaviour but I think that all those activists (who are wasting their time if you ask me) and the press (who really have nothing better to do) are all barking up the wrong tree.
President Buhari's only 'sin' in my opinion is that he missed a golden chance to put this to rest. In my last post about the Chibok girls, I chided the president for his indecisiveness in this matter. Perhaps in his bid to show Nigerians his 'democratic' side, president Buhari has lost his military spine. He was a draconian dictator as Nigeria's head of state from the dawn of 1984 up until August 1985 when he was overthrown in a bloodless palace coup. He has so mellowed he can hardly look into the eyes of grieving parents and just tell them the truth. Would it be easier to continue to lie to them or to tell them the very bitter truth?
He chased out the press just before sitting down with the parents, and that would have been the perfect opportunity to let these parents know that they may never see their daughters again. His spin doctors would not find it so difficult to come up with something to soften the blow of facing this reality. President Buhari need not be afraid of making it look like former president Jonathan is the major reason these girls may have been lost forever; it was mostly Jonathan's fault anyway. Jonathan refused to acknowledge the girls' abduction for three weeks. Jonathan was president when Nigerian soldiers were sent into a war with Boko Haram terrorists without bullets. Jonathan was president when the defence budget was divvied up among party loyalists. Jonathan is responsible for whatever fate has befallen them; their blood is on his hands and president Buhari should not hesitate to let the world know this. And neither should he deny the parents of these girls this knowledge either.
He chased out the press just before sitting down with the parents, and that would have been the perfect opportunity to let these parents know that they may never see their daughters again. His spin doctors would not find it so difficult to come up with something to soften the blow of facing this reality. President Buhari need not be afraid of making it look like former president Jonathan is the major reason these girls may have been lost forever; it was mostly Jonathan's fault anyway. Jonathan refused to acknowledge the girls' abduction for three weeks. Jonathan was president when Nigerian soldiers were sent into a war with Boko Haram terrorists without bullets. Jonathan was president when the defence budget was divvied up among party loyalists. Jonathan is responsible for whatever fate has befallen them; their blood is on his hands and president Buhari should not hesitate to let the world know this. And neither should he deny the parents of these girls this knowledge either.
Mr Jonathan (above) is being toasted as "a hero of democracy" for conceding defeat in last year's election even before all the results had been collated. He is now junketing the globe, giving speeches and generally playing the good guy, but under his watch, Nigeria literally ground to a halt due to the massive stealing of public funds from virtually every possible avenue. His slothfulness is the reason no tangible effort was made to rescue these girls for nearly a month after they were kidnapped, and president Buhari is unwittingly adding insult to Jonathan's injury.
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