#BringBackOurGirls: Mr. President, I Beg to Disagree

This is the video of President Goodluck Jonathan giving reasons for not visiting Chibok.

With due respect, Mr. President, I want to disagree with your statement that visiting Chibok will not “solve the problem per se”. I disagree with virtually everything you said in your response to the question posed to you over your refusal to visit Chibok. You also said “If the president goes to Chibok today, it does not solve any problem”. Mr. President, in all honesty do you believe your answer to the question you were asked was valid? Dear Mr. President, the reason Nigerians want you to pay a visit to Chibok is not because they expect you to personally rescue the girls. And that brings me to your statement that the girls are not being held in Chibok, so you do not need to visit the town. 

Mr. President, are you saying if the girls were being held in Chibok, you would have visited the town? To do what? To rescue the girls? But Mr. President, it is in the news that the girls are being held in Sambisa forest. Will you visit Sambisa forest then?

Oga Presido, you said somewhere in the video clip that you would still visit Chibok. When will that be, sir? After the girls are rescued? What purpose will your visit serve then? The reason we are asking you to visit Chibok is to show that government is truly concerned about the wellbeing of the kidnapped girls and about their families. Remember it took you three weeks before you spoke about the abduction. That made Nigerians to start thinking that our government may not really be concerned about the fate of the abducted children. A presidential visit would have shown that the government is truly committed to bring back these girls. It will portray to Nigerians that we have a responsive government. Your visit will strengthen the hopes of the families of these children that their girls will soon come home.

Your Excellency, you may see no reason for going to Chibok but me tell you this, if this had happened in America, Obama would have visited the community. If you don’t agree let me give you instances.

In March of this year, a major mudslide occurred in Oso, Washington, United States leading to loss of lives. President Obama went to the place. His visit did not bring back those who died but a resident said his visit would help families who have lost so much begin to heal.

September last year, Obama visited the Washington Navy Yard, where a mass shooting had taken place.

In December of 2012, President Obama visited Newtown, Connecticut, where the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred.

In May 2011, Barack Obama visited the city of Joplin, Missouri which had been devastated by a catastrophic tornado.

In January, 2011, President Barack Obama visited Gabrielle Giffords, a member of the United States House of Representatives who had been shot at the medical center where she was being treated.

These visits by President Obama did not bring back the dead or heal the injured but it must have healed minds and souls. This is what Yahoo News says about President Obama, “The president repeatedly has stepped into the role of national consoler in times of mourning.”

Nigerians also want a president who can be called a national sympathiser and a genuine one at that. You mentioned the fact that you visited the UN building and Police Headquarters in Abuja after they were bombed because of the physical destructions that took place. What about the emotional and psychological devastation that is taking place in Chibok?

Or can it be true Mr. President, that as Commander-in-Chief of Nigeria’s armed forces, you are not comfortable with the idea of visiting Chibok because of the fear that you may be attacked? I don’t want to think so.