ICC Note: More than 600 days after Boko Haram abducted nearly 300 mostly Christian girls in April 2014, the majority remain missing with little hope that they will ever be returned. In all likelihood, they have faced all manner or tortures and persecutions, probably being sold into sexual slavery as forced wives of Islamist militants. The question remains whether or not Nigeria maintains the political will or the intelligence capability to locate the girls who have probably dispersed across West Africa. Meanwhile, Nigerian politicians have long flouted empty promises, glossing over the realistic hopelessness of the girls’ situation with empty hopeful words and little action. In his latest move towards progress, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has relaunched an investigation into the initial circumstances surrounding the kidnapping at the behest of the #BringBackOurGirls advocacy campaign. All the while, the Nigerian state has remained untruthful about all of the challenges that face the search, while also considering the girls’ rescue as a condition of victory over Boko Haram.

By Dele Agekameh

1/21/16 Nigeria (Premium Times) – The sad and unfortunate aspect of this Chibok episode is that all the girls may have either been sold out to be used as sex slaves or married off to terrorists. Therefore, it will be a miracle if at all a quarter of them is ever seen again.

Exactly 647 days after they were abducted, the fate of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram terrorists remains a mystery. It has also remained a crime too horrifying to comprehend. That hundreds of teenage girls, who were about to finish their secondary education and destined for significant achievements in their lives, were so callously kidnapped in one fell swoop, perhaps, never to be seen again, is one of the greatest psychological trauma a nation can pass through.

In the last 647 days, the whole world has been gripped with horror and anxiety over the safe return of the schoolgirls believed to be more than 200. Day after day, hope of their return is raised only to be dashed by the next minute. Towards the last desperate days of the Goodluck Jonathan-led administration, some crooks, possibly with the collaboration of other unscrupulous government officials, pulled fast strings on the government by claiming to be capable of brokering freedom for the unfortunate girls. It later turned out to be a scam and the government was swindled of millions of tax payers’ money.

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