Hafsat Abiola is a
human rights, civil rights and democracy activist, founder of the Kudirat
Initiative for Democracy (KIND), and daughter of
late business man/politician, MKO Abiola.
Her letter below Dear President, As young global
leaders we would like to express our deep concern about the recent situations
in Nigeria. The massacre in Baga has been Boko Haram’s deadliest so far and
what has it met with?
Your silence. Most disturbing still is the fact that
you would send a message to France condemning the killings there, yet seem unable
to address the Nigerian people who look to you for leadership. Unfortunately,
it would not be the first time On 10 November 2014 a suicide bomber killed 47
people and injured 79 others.
The following day, with barely a mention of this
horrific incident targetting children, you launched your re-election campaign.
And despite the ease with which you move on, even you will remember the
abduction of the schoolgirls in Chibok in April last year. It was 40 days
before you addressed the country on that occasion.
Nigerians waited, perplexed, as your government
debated whether or not the abductions had even taken place. As a result, of all
the girls captured, only 52 have secured their freedom – escaping on their own.
The rest are still in captivity, still waiting to be
rescued, 276 days after being taken from their friends, family and community.
Could it be that your government also doubts that the Baga attacks happened?
Amnesty International’s satellite images confirm that indeed a massacre took
place, and as many as 2000 people are dead.
Yet your army wastes time contesting the numbers.
Whether 150 or 2000, we’d like to hear from you on your governments plans to
secure the region and to bear witness to the loss of lives in Baga. We have
seen a clear incompetency in handling matters of national interest. In the
context of existing ethnic and religious fault lines, silence only says that
Nigeria’s government does not care about the victims and is not dealing with
the insurgency.
True the global community has also failed to maintain
pressure on your government that seems ambivalent about fulfilling its
constitutional role to secure the lives and properties of its citizens. As 1.5
million Nigerians flee their homes, swelling camps within Nigeria and
overwhelming border communities’ (if not same as before), it seems the only
hope to see you act is global outrage.
It was this that finally forced you to address the
nation and the world 40 days after the Chibok abductions. It was only then that
you reached out to other countries and, with their help, agree a plan for a
regional security force to secure the porous borders between Nigeria, Niger and
Chad where Boko Haram roams undeterred.
Perhaps, had international pressure been sustained
last year, a multi-regional force would have been based in Baga as planned.
Perhaps it would have been strong enough to repel Boko Haram when the militants
attacked on 3 January. Perhaps 2000 lives could have been saved. But Isis
happened and the world moved on, leaving a small national military unit to
stand between thousands of armed militants and a town of ten thousand people.
We now know what happened. The world has seen pictures
of bodies still strewn around the forest and river where they died. If these
deaths do not generate the attention, outcry and action that they ought to, we
can only prepare the ground for more bodies because Boko Haram shows no sign of
relenting. The insurgents can be defeated but first you must decide if the
lives of Nigerians are worth it or not.
Break the silence, Mr. President. Call for global
attention and support to avert a crisis that begins to echo the early days of
the Rwandan genocide. Be the voice for the thousands of innocent people who
have died and the millions who yearn for peace.
They have the right to rebuild their communities and
claim their place in the unfolding rise of the African continent.
Hafsat Abiola-Costello Founder/President Kudirat
Initiative for democracy Nigeria
Co-Signatories Arnaud Ventura,
France Bjarte Reve,
Norway Binta Niambi Brown,
USA Erik Charas, Mozambique
Funmi Iyanda, Nigeria
Georgie Bernadette, USA
Jacqueline Musiitwa,
Zambia Loulwa Bakr,
Saudi Arabia Leo Shlesinger,
Chile Marieme Jamme,
Senegal Mark Turrell,
Germany Rossana Figuera,
USA Salim Amin,
Kenya Soulaima Gourani,
Denmark Susan Mashibe,
Tanzania Tara
Fela Durotoye, Nigeria
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