Events seem to vindicate the Nigerian military that rescuing the over 200 students of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, abducted on April 14 by Boko Haram is not due to either poor equipment or lack of expertise, a military affairs analyst has said.

Kaduna-based analyst Emmanuel Ado told News Express:

“Of the foreign partners working with Nigeria, the Americans most especially know that such assignments are difficult considering that it took them more than 10 years to find the late Osama Bin Laden. Even then, it was human intelligence that led them to the fugitive. But the American public never wavered in its support for the military.

“The American and British soldiers have been here for over three weeks, and we have not rescued the Chibok girls. This confirms that the delay of the Nigerian military to rescue the girls is not in any way an indication of their inability or operational inefficiency. It shows just how difficult the task is.

“What the military needs in the war against insurgents is human intelligence. This was what made the difference in the capture and killing of Osama Bin Laden at Abbottabad, Pakistan.”

Mr. Ado also recalled that one-time Minister of Transport under the Shehu Shagari government, Dr. Umaru Dikko, escaped being kidnapped back to Nigeria, due to a very observant British woman, who alerted the police.

According to Ado, “The foreign partners’ contribution to the rescue efforts is very much in order, because terrorism is now everybody’s concern. The government had a choice to refuse or accept their offer of assistance, but it accepted because of its determination to ‘everything possible’ to rescue the girls.

“The non-rescue of the girls up till now despite the presence of foreign partners vindicates the Nigerian military, which made it clear from the very beginning that this is a very delicate assignment which requires time and patience so as not to endanger the lives of the girls.”

Mr. Ado commended the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, for his reassuring statement that the military has located the girls and would get them home in due course.

“I am happy that the CDS did not give anything away while making that information available to the public,” he said. “I trust the ability of the Nigerian military to rescue the Chibok girls and I would like to appeal to Nigerians to continue to have faith and give our military every necessary support in this very difficult assignment. We must give them our total support.”

•Photo shows Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh.

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