Our Experience At Sambisa Forest – BBOG
Fresh from a guided tour to the Sambisa area of Borno State, the Bring Back Our Girls movement has written on its experience during the tour.
The full text is published below:
BBOG
WELCOMES CONTINUING MILITARY SEARCH FOR OUR CHIBOK GIRLS AND CALLS ON
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO SECURE RELEASE OF ALL REMAINING 195 CHIBOK GIRLS
AND OTHER ABDUCTED CITIZENS:
Our
Movement had over the last eighteen months of since the inauguration of
the President Muhammadu Buhari administration demanded the FG to make a
strategic decision on the lowest risk option to recover our
#ChibokGirls. The possibilities remain rescue by military operation,
release through negotiation with the terrorists and finally, a
combination of the two options.
With
our visit to the war zone, we have become more convinced that the
combination approach was what helped achieve the recovery of 24
#ChibokGirls that have so far regained freedom from terrorist captivity.
While 3 of our ChibokGirls were indirectly recovered as a result of
military operation in the war zone, 21 of their friends were released by
the Boko Haram terrorists as a result of negotiations by the Federal
Government.
While
we urge the military to accelerate its counterinsurgency operations
which we observed during our Guided Tour, we must ask the Federal
Government to speedily fulfill its public promise of negotiating the
release a set of 83 of our #ChibokGirls as conveyed by the Spokesperson
for the President last October when 21 of their colleagues were
released.
We
noted during our Guided Tour, that minister of information and culture
alongside the minister of defense revealed that those negotiations are
still ongoing to secure the release our 83 girls. Our Movement shall
therefore strengthen our voice of demand for quick recovery of all
remaining 195 of our #ChibokGirls and other abducted citizens.
We
shall not stop demanding for their rescue until all our girls are back
and alive. And so, as we continue to monitor the activities of the
Federal Government to rescue or secure the release of our girls, we urge
that it should accelerate effort to avoid another tragic milestone date
of DAY1100.
BBOG
IS VINDICATED BY VISIT WITH MEDIA AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO THE WAR
ZONE THAT TRANSPARENCY IS KEY TO WINNING THE COUNTERINSURGENCY WAR:
A
nation at war with a common enemy needs to be united to win. Unity of
all stakeholders affected by the war– the government, the military, the
directly affected citizens, and the wider Nigerian public is best
achieved entrenching Transparency in the way the war is communicated. It
is on record that #BringBackOurGirls had on many occasions in the past
demanded that independent media should be occasionally embedded within
the troops at the theatre of war to enable accurate reporting of the
progress being made by the military.
Such
transparency and accurate reporting of the war can also honestly reveal
challenges for our troops that can be be quickly resolved without
creating distrust for the government and military establishment. Such
accurate media reporting helps to builds trust and achieve buy-in of the
Nigerian public for the government and the military in the prosecution
of the war. Our participation alongside independent media in the tour to
the theatre of war in Sambisa General Area validated the benefit of
Transparency to the counterinsurgency war. The military should therefore
do more to foster transparent relationship with the media and civil
society especially considering its history of distrust among the
Nigerian public.
For
example, the Nigeria Air Force can quickly clarify the size of the war
zone– the Sambisa General Area — which it presented during our Guided
Tour as 60,000 square kilometers and 18 times the size of Lagos. There
is an on-going public debate of that data and a NAF clarification can
help promote the culture of transparency and debate that builds public
confidence in the military.
BBOG
ASKS FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND MILITARY TO CLARIFY ITS POST-CAMP ZAIRO
CAPTURE COUNTERINSURGENCY OBJECTIVES AND COMMUNICATE WAR BETTER TO
PUBLIC:
As
progress is made our Movement believes that the objectives of the
counterinsurgency war require constant review and clarification to the
public by the Federal Government and the military. This is to enable the
public know when milestones and defined results have been achieved.
This is especially in view of the recent miscommunication to the public
on the significance of the military capture of Camp Zairo. Our
experience during the Guided Tour, of the analyses that happen in the
NAF technical war room; our participation in the ISR (intelligence,
surveillance, reconnaissance) platform search process; our new insight
into the level of coordination between the air and ground troops in
intelligence gathering and operations; and finally, our access to the
data trends of the counterinsurgency during our visit show that War
Objectives, Milestones, Constraints, Failures and Results can be better
communicated to the public by the Federal Government and the military.
Our
Movement asked during our visit to the war zone and here again asks the
Federal Government, with the capture of Camp Zairo, “What is the end
game?” “What is success?” “What and when is Victory determined for
counterinsurgency war?”
The
Nigerian public needs to know the answers to these questions as Federal
Government takes necessary steps to begin to communicate the war better
to the public. In a democracy, government must embrace the culture of
being answerable to citizens. The less antagonistic government acts
toward those in society who scrutinize its actions and demand
accountability, the faster the progress that our country can make.
BBOG CALLS ON FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO GRANT CITIZENS ACCESS TO INFORMATION TO SUPPORT EMPIRICAL ADVOCACY.
Our
participation in the Guided Tour of the war zone gave us access to
data, real time information and knowledge of the air component of the
counterinsurgency war. Our Movement is thus even now more empowered
to scrutinize the decisions and activities of the federal government
and the military on the war. Empirical advocacy by citizens can be
highly beneficial to government also. In any democracy, Government has a
constitutional duty to answer every question on governance that
citizens ask. It is those governments that imbibe such democratic
accountability culture that invariably do well to guarantee citizens’
access to information. That way, it eschews rumors and anecdotes as a
basis of citizens’ again agitation on issues of governance.
The
government must embrace the culture of continually being answerable to
citizens. The less antagonistic government acts towards those in society
who scrutinise its actions and demand accountability, the faster
progress society makes.
Therefore,
as we continue with our demand on the federal government and the
military establishment for appropriate decisions, actions and
accountability to rescue of our Chibok Girls, the more factual
information they provide to our Movement, the healthier the interaction
can be. A good start would be that the Federal Government immediately
acts on our Movement’s filing of a Freedom of Information more than one
year ago, and publishes the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and
Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North East (the Tanimu
Turaki Committee) 2013, and the Presidential Fact-Finding Committee on
the Abduction of the Chibok School Girls (the General Sabo Committee)
reports.
BBOG
TASKS PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI AND THE MILITARY TO AVOID COSTLY
DELAYS IN ACTIONS NECESSARY TO RESCUE CHIBOK GIRLS AND END THE WAR.
What
we learned during the mission with the NAF validated our position
during the last 997 days of our advocacy that had the right leadership,
knowledge, expertise, equipment, intelligence been swiftly deployed
earlier on in this war, our military would have long vanquished the
enemy and ended their insurgency activities. It was the failure of
governance that delayed the swift response of the military to the
abduction of our Chibok Girls on April 14, 2014. The same failure of
governance was responsible for delay in adequately resourcing our troops
to effectively degrade the strength of Boko Haram terrorists and defend
our territorial integrity. Delay of right action by our federal
government helped escalate the insurgency. Those delays and failures are
grossly costly in terms of loss of lives, time, and money that Nigeria
has lost since the last eight years.
These costs can be quantified in that, 30,000 — thirty thousand — of
our citizens dead, an unknown number of our people including our 195
ChibokGirls still missing, 2.5 million— two and a half million —
Nigerians dislodged and
living in squalid conditions in Internally Displaced People’s Camps,
and several billions of dollars in war financing. The knowledge we have
gathered from visit to the war zone has made our Movement resolute to
continue with our demand for the leadership of the federal government
and the military establishment to act end all delays and achieve
cessation of the war. BBOG calls on the President as the Commander in
Chief of the Armed Forces to provide the urgent leadership necessary to
quickly resolve all issues associated with the counterinsurgency war.
Nigerian troops can win this war faster if the Federal Government can
avoid costly delays.
BBOG CALLS FOR OPERATIONAL AND EXPENDITURE REVIEW OF THE WAR AND CONCLUSIVE PROSECUTION OF ALL ASSOCIATED CORRUPTION CASES:
The
Nigeria Air Force provided factual information of the building up of
tools, equipment and resources they require for the counterinsurgency
war since July 2015. The information in turn enabled our Movement to
analytically establish a strong link between financial resources
allocated to the counterinsurgency war and the results achieved over the
same period. It therefore validated our previous calls on the Federal
Government to institute an operational and expenditure review of the
financial resources committed to the war since 2009.
Such
review process would help the country identify the colossal disconnect
between financial resources and the results achieved. The findings of
the operational and expenditure reviews can additionally identify the
necessary financial and procurement systems measures and the
accountabilities plus sanctions that must be taken to speed up results.
Our Movement demands immediate action on this for the military and
security establishments to improve value for money in their use of
public funds.
Complementarily,
our Movement calls on the Federal Government to immediately present to
the Nigerian public an update of all the corruption cases associated
with the prosecution of the war. What is the state of the prosecution of
all those indicted in misappropriating monies for arms and other
military equipment procurement? How about the prosecution of those who
misappropriated the monies meant for troop salaries, allowances,
terminal benefits, pension and other related matters? What assurances
can the Government and military offer that monies meant to prosecute the
war are no longer being diverted?
Corruption
must be conclusively punished especially where the act resulted in the
loss of military and civilian lives in the North East and caused delays
to the rescue of our ChibokGirls and other citizens abducted by Boko
Haram terrorists.
We
therefore specifically call on the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, the prosecution teams led by the Attorney General and
Minister of Justice the Federal Government, the Judiciary and the
Nigerian Bar Association to feel the pulse of the Nigerian public which
wants all corruption cases speedily concluded. All these parties to
successful corruption trial must stop delaying the judicial sanctions
process.
BBOG
CALLS ON ALL NIGERIANS TO CONTINUE TO USE THE HASHTAG
#NigeriansHonourOurHeroes TO CELEBRATE AND ADVOCATE FOR THE WELFARE OF
OUR TROOPS IN THE BATTLEFRONT:
We
can confirm from our visit that our Nigeria Air Force can attain world
class performance given all the tools and support necessary for its role
in the defense and security of our country. We met highly trained,
professional, motivated and inspiring air troop of the Nigerian Air
Force. Quite significantly, they are mostly in their 20s and 30s and led
by very distinguished team of officers. They were very delighted to
meet members of our movement and several expressed gratitude to us for
our advocacy. Some of the officials of NAF remembered how much we
advocated on the issue of poor resourcing of the counter insurgency war
and on the improvement of the welfare of our troops in the frontline of
battle. Many of them were aware of our #NigeriansHonourOurHeroes
initiative. We therefore enjoin all Nigerians to adopt the
#NigeriansHonourOurHeroes initiative. We should all continue to support
our heroes fighting the counter insurgency war and champion the cause
for their welfare. We salute their patriotic service and sacrifice for
our country and people.
Our
four members have since safely returned to Abuja and we are grateful to
both the Federal Government and more especially the Chief of Air Staff
and his entire team at the Nigeria Air Force for making our Guided Tour a
good learning experience for our citizens movement. We shall be writing
to the Federal Government as part of the reporting of our participation
in the Guided Tour.
We
the members of BBOG shall continue with our daily sit out activities at
the Unity Fountain. As we meet daily, we shall be monitoring and
reacting to the activities of the Federal Government and the military in
their efforts to rescue our Chibok Girls and all other abducted
citizens.
Kindly read full report of our Guided Tour of the North East here:
Mr President, No More Excuses!
Mr President, No More Delays!
Mr President, Decide Now!!
Mr President, Act Now!!!
We Want More Results!!!!
Signed:
For and on behalf of #BringBackOurGirls
AISHA YESUFU
OBY EZEKWESILI
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