Title: Bring Back Our Girls: The Untold Story of the Global Search for Nigeria's Missing Schoolgirls
Authors: Joe Parkinson & Drew Hinshaw
Year: 2021
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 978-0-06-293392-8
On the night of 14 April 2014, Boko Haram, a terrorist group centered in Northeastern Nigeria kidnapped 276 girls from a secondary school in Chibok, Borno State. This book tells how the kidnap happened, what the girls experienced including their perception of their captors, effect of the kidnap on their parents, reactions of the Federal Government of Nigeria, efforts to rescue them and the parties involved.
The narrator of the girls' ordeal is Naomi Adamu (but spelt Na'omi because young girls have affectations that they imagine make them unique although this girl was a young woman of 24 at the time of the kidnap). Her picture was also included. It showed a rather gaunt, awkward looking person. Looking at the picture, I imagined how she and the other captives must have smelt during their captivity. Food was a luxury, how much more soap and deodorant? They were taken by accident because BH had attacked the school looking for a brickmaking machine and food. The attack happened at a time when the school's food stocks were low and so the terrorists, disappointed at their poor haul, decided to take the girls. Given that the kidnapping was unplanned, the terrorists did not initially know what to do with them, but at the beginning, BH seemed more inclined to having them ransomed. However, the global reaction to the kidnap increased their value to the group. To milk this, Abubakar Shekau, the leader of the group, made some deranged videos where he ranted about enslaving them, as they were infidels. However, according to Naomi, their treatment was generally no worse and sometimes even better than how the other unfortunates under BH's sway were treated. She'd kept a diary and excerpts from it were included in the book. It was written in poor English and the sentiments in it are extremely banal, thus, simple. This simplicity might have contributed to her strength of will and stubborn refusal to convert to Islam. Further, the lack of sophistication evident in both her writing and oral testimony made me empathize more with her experience. These are children of a poor people, from a poor part of a poor country, why should their lives be made worse by such a horrible conflict?
Rape is pervasive during war. Actually, it is pervasive all the time but war makes it less unacceptable. At least until the side that wins the war decides to get sanctimonious. In most tribal cultures, of which primordial Islam (of the type preached by BH) is one, female captives are prizes of war to be enslaved and kept as concubines. When Shekau talked about selling the girls, I'd imagined he'd distribute them to his fighters for that purpose. However, according to Naomi, this didn't happen. It was pleasantly surprising that apparently BH, in it's Islamic puritanical zeal, frowned on sex outside marriage. So, the only way one of his men could touch the girls was via marriage. And while I understand that such marriages were a sham and rape can still happen in a marriage, I think one man occasionally raping a girl is not as bad as she being group property. Thus, many of the girls were pressured to marry BH men. Part of the pressure included starving some of them and pampering others in a divide and rule tactic. Again, I was surprised that some sort of consent was being sought from the girls despite their being completely in the power of the their captors. Another thing that was initially surprising but wasn't upon reflection was the behavior of Shekau. In his videos, he acts deranged. But Naomi's impression of him was of a deliberative, thinking person. It makes sense that a being in charge of such a group like BH requires some brain power.
When the kidnapping happened, the incumbent president, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ), did not believe it partly because his security advisors and military commanders claimed the incident either did not happen or it was staged to damage him politically. How they would think so, despite BH committing so many atrocities, including the February 2014 slaughter of 59 boys in Buni Yadi, 200 kilometer away, boggles the mind. In any case, the government did not make any attempt to rescue the girls or even get credible intelligence about the incident. No serious attempt was made to rescue the girls until global pressure was exerted due to a Twitter campaign. The first rescue attempt was botched at the 11th hour because some egos were ruffled. I felt a black rage when I read that bit because I have experienced such caprice from our government officials. The guy who had arranged the rescue had to flee the country because his life was in danger from BH since they felt betrayed and probably from our security agencies since they probably felt that a bloody civilian was encroaching on their turf. This sort of lack of clear leadership had bedeviled the government of GEJ. It is a wonder then, that this man, whose ineptitude contributed to BH's growing strength, is remembered fondly by some Nigerians and held as some sort of good steward. When his successor Muhammadu Buhari (PMB), assumed power, it was hoped that he would be more decisive, but alas, it was more of the same. In fact, it was a bit worse in the case of PMB because while GEJ was a bumbling and ineffective person, he wasn't seen as mean or deliberately insensitive. I don't think GEJ met any of the victims' parents but his wife did in a crass televised event. PMB or his lackeys (probably with his knowledge and/or approval) did something similar. The parents came (or were invited by the government) to Abuja to see the president. They were initially denied entry into the presidential house. They were allowed in when they made a ruckus and apparently journalists recorded it. They were then made to wait several hours only for some officials to come and apologize saying the president could not meet them. Again, they made a fuss and the man finally came out, according to the book, scowling and generally making it plain that he was being disturbed. Now, I'm not a big fan of symbolism, and logically, there's nothing the president would have told the parents that his subordinates could not. However, since they were in the premises, it was not only good politics but actually the humane thing to do to act concerned and fatherly. Our president apparently thought otherwise, or just did not care in the usual manner of our rulers. The parents, bowed by the sorrow of their missing children, were crushed by their president's callousness.
And yet, the president made strenuous efforts to get the girls back. He had initially hoped to retrieve them within 100 days of taking office. A deal was struck, but was scuttled by the same factors that had led to his predecessor's failure. When the breakthrough finally came, it was due to the efforts of a Swiss diplomat and a team of Nigerians including Zanna Mustapha, a man who hoped to win the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. This team negotiated the release of 102 girls in 2 groups during 2016 and 2017. One other girl escaped with her BH husband. So far as I know, those are the only ones to have gained their freedom. Of the rest, some had died in the interim either due to hardship or during attacks by Nigerian military, others were not released because ransom negotiations failed, some had been converted to BH ideology and reportedly chose to remain. Others could just not be found and I doubt they will ever be. The Nigerian government does not care while the international community has moved on. Many of the parents of those still missing are dead. There was a Nigerian group called BBOG, headed by a stern woman called Oby Ezekwesili that galvanized the international response. It was Ms. Ezekwesili who pushed the hashtag which was created by a man who had been inspired by a speech she had given on the subject. I do not think BBOG are still campaigning for the rest of the girls. Those who still have the hashtag on their social media handles while keeping the faith are most probably aware that their faith is futile. But then, they might not be, given how irrational faith is. Faith is a recurring sentiment in the book. The faith of BH which makes them do the shit they do. That of the captives and their parents, who kept fasting (despite being starved and malnourished most of the time) and praying for succor. That of Zanna Mustapha, who runs an orphanage and believes that he is specially protected because the prayers of the weak and the poor (the orphans) have unusual effectiveness. Since our government has failed in its primary purpose of securing lives, it might make sense to hope the government of the universe can provide some justice. Although, given that this sort of shit has been happening with God's knowledge, one wonders if the default setting of governments, whether terrestrial or celestial is ineptitude and unconcern for the weak.
This book was written in a compassionate manner about a really horrible event. While there were many writeups by Nigerians in Nigerian papers and online, this book was not written by Nigerians. I think that is rather sad, but given how even our government did not care about its citizens until foreigners pressured it, not surprising. Maybe Hollywood will even make a movie about it. There have always been complaints about miscasting of actors, usually when white people play other races. Recently, the complaints are about blacks being cast in roles written about white people, like the current one where a black woman is in a role about a historical Scandinavian king. If this movie is made, beautiful actors would be used. And they would probably be curvy, with well coiffed hair, even after 3 years in captivity. It would be hard to imagine them having BO. It is not a film I would want to watch.
This book is recommended. It is a sad read, made even worse by the knowledge that more than half of the girls were never returned and the insurgency has still not been completely defeated.