Fiery tele-evangelist and former running mate to President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2011 presidential election, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has described the present government of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), in Nigeria as a total failure. Bakare, who was the guest lecturer at the second Annual Chibok Girls Lecture, organised by the Bring Back our Girls ( BBOG) movement, in Abuja yesterday, said that the Buhari’s administration has not only failed in its primary responsibility of providing security and welfare to the citizenry, but has proven to be “irresponsible and selfserving.”
The lecture was in commemoration of the fourth year since the kidnap of over 276 girls of the Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State. It would be recalled that since the April, 14, 2014 abduction of the girls, the BBOG had consistently demanded for their rescue by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
About 107 of the school girls have returned while about 100 are still in the custody of the Boko Haram terrorists. Bakare, who lamented the apparent nonchalant attitude of the Federal Government to the plight of the girls, still in captivity, stated that Buhari’s inaction towards the rescue of the Chibok Girls was a reflection of his little love for the girl child and womanhood.
He said that Buhari’s disregard for the women folk made him reduce the African woman to the ” kitchen, living room and the “other room, lamenting that today, the girl child had become a “bargaining instrument in negotiating deals between the government and the terrorists.”
“Our President was standing next to one of the most powerful women in the world, but reduced the African woman to the lowest place. We have a government that does not represent our interest. If they are, they would have done everything to better the lives of the citizens. Any government that does not prioritize the security and welfare of its people is a failed government,” he said.
Bakare said that it was the inability of the government to secure the lives and property of its citizens that led to the second drama of the invasion and abduction of over 100 school girls, at the Government Girls Science Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State.
He said: “The fact that the Dapchi episode happened four years after the Chibok incident and one year to elections, just as it was in the Chibok case, is evidence of an alarming national malady.
There is something wrong when a nation is twice bitten. In the same vein, a human rights activist and one-time Senator, Hajia Naja’tau Muhammad, noted that the Chibok and the Dapchi kidnap incidents were just but a fraction of the atrocities that have been committed in the North-East, by not just the terrorists, but some security agents.
The activist, who lamented that the terrorism fight in the North-East had become a “cash cow” to agents of government, also indicted the military, saying that the military had compromised national security on several fronts.
Muhammad, who disclosed that she served in some of the government committees set up to investigate the North-East crisis, also said that she had voiced her frustration at several fora, over government’s failure to implement the recommendation of the committees following its findings.
According to her, the fight against insurgency in Nigeria might never end, except those in authority summoned the courage to completely overhaul the security architecture in the country. She alleged that the military had helped the Boko Haram to thrive, because it has become a new found multimillion dollar industry to few elite in the security and government circles.
“Terrorism fight in northeast has become a cash cow for Nigerian elite and the military has helped terrorism to thrive, since they have seen in it a million dollar industry. Meanwhile, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, expressed sadness that all the abducted girls have not been accounted for.
He also urged the executive to intensify efforts towards providing adequate security to schools in the country. He also called on the executive to intensify efforts for the release of Leah Sharibu, the Dapchi girl, who was denied freedom along with other abductees, reportedly for refusing to renounce her faith. Dogara said: “It is unfortunate that four years after, all of our daughters have still not been accounted for.
This underpins the need to take swift action when such incidents occur and to provide adequate security, not on a temporary basis but permanently, so that such tragedies can be prevented.
“Nigeria has an alarming number of out of school children and if we genuinely want to solve this challenge, then we must make our learning institutions as safe and secure as possible. “One can only imagine the amount of grief that the parents of those whose daughters are yet to be rescued have to cope with on a daily basis.
While we may offer words of support, the fact remains that nothing will put them in better spirits than to be reunited with their children. “I hereby call on President Muhammadu Buhari, as the father of the nation and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, to put an end to their sorrow by freeing their daughters from captivity.”
