Like a script of a horror movie, the issue of the now lost Chibok girls has continued to play unending scenes with heightened tension being generated with each episode. The latest being the video posted on the girls where one of them solicited the government’s quick response to save them from the jaws of death. From the recording, one of the girls spoke of the untold hardship and the inhuman treatment meted on them daily. The voice urged the government to swap Boko Haram detainees in order to secure their release. The authorities in what transcends the realm of coincidence have declared wanted three individuals, including one journalist, Ahmed Salkida, as having links with Boko Haram on suspicion that even the latest video on the girls was circulated by them. While none of the suspects have reacted to the situation, we urge the authorities to be circumspect in handling these issues which have become so highly politicized amid the suspicion it has created around. natioanlTRAIL is wary of some earlier moves aimed securing the girls release which turned out a ruse and perhaps a rip off at the expense lives supposedly at stake. Many jobbers and tricksters, some of them influential have attempted phony deals aimed at enhancing their personal gains rather than recourse to altruism. The government must be on its guard not to fall prey to these unscrupulous individuals. While we commend the Federal government’s recent stance that it was on top of the situation as it was working on the latest clues to secure the release the girls, we quickly caution on the need for its spin doctors, including the Information Minister, Mr. Lai Mohammed to thread with cautious optimism. His recent public utterance on the matter left much to be desired. He was so vociferous and nearly definitive that the government was close to securing the girls’ release. It is not the first time we have gained that altitude in terms of promises. We must be guided and guarded by sobriety and tact when dealing with issues of this nature, especially where human lives are involved. At a time last year, the authorities had raised hopes that they were closing on the abductors and that in a short while the girls would regain freedom. That is yet to be seen, hence our concern for a cautious approach to these operational issues. Also by going public with your operational attitude by sheer propaganda, the enemy is indirectly being fortified as it would re-strategise to counter any planned offensive. For the grieving parents of the innocent girls we share in their grief, even as we wish that they be released soon to re-unite with their kin and kits. We urge Nigerians of all hues, creed and religions to unite in prayers for the release of the girls notwithstanding that some of them may not be again seen alive, given the claims by the sect that some of the girls had been killed by the shelling of its enclave by the military. From indications, some of the girls from the latest video have been identified; lending credence to the theory that majority of them are still alive. We still hold that might not be the ultimate response at this time as one adage goes, that one does not kill a snake in a clay pot with a hammer. A time to approach the situation with utmost care is now as live is sacred and must be protected at all cost.
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