The situation surrounding the abducted girls continue to remain unclear. One day, the American government spokesman tells us that America has stopped all surveillance to trace the missing girls, and have instead detailed other forms of actions for the same purpose. Another day, we read that they stopped their surveillance to make way for other countries like France and England to continue the search. This looks like a double talk to me.

This is a very confusing situation which I do not understand. Does it mean that America has washed her hands completely from this tragedy, and has turned her back on Nigeria? It would seem that like Nigeria, America has also failed these girls, but I refuse to accept that this is the case. I will like America to realize that the case of these girls is a cry for help, and American must not fail them.

I have faith in America, but not so much in England because they have too much vested interest in the north of Nigeria. France has really never done much in the past for and with Nigeria, although Nigeria is surrounded by French speaking countries, and they may fear that if Boko Haram is not stopped, their vandalism will soon ease into their friendly territories, something which has already started happening. I suppose America has vested interest too, but here, we are talking of a lesser evil.

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On CNN yesterday, the question was raised about whether anyone cared about the activities of Boko Haram in Nigeria, and the answer was swift. The respondent said that the world should care. He further stated that if the UN had taken action three years ago when Boko Haram first reared its head, that the story would have been different today. The respondent also noted that the activities of Boko Haram is slowly, but quietly spreading into neighboring countries to Nigeria, and will continue to spread if they are not stopped.

This is just like the proverbial saying that what happens to any part of the body, affects all parts of the body. The world today is but a country. No one country should fold her hands and act as if what is happening in another country, no matter how far away, does not affect her. They may not see the effect immediately, but eventually, the effect will manifest.

I am happy to read, after my initial concerns, that America is still at work in Nigeria trying to find and free the girls. I am equally happy to read that Nigeria, after her initial stand of having “wrapped up” her investigations, has now vowed to continue the search. I can spy the effect of my refusal to back off harping on this matter.

(We will continue).

Something has just come up. This is not the blog I planned to write today, but I just read that the Nigerian government has hired an American PR company to clean up the image of the government, and make it look good to the world. The PR company is also to repair the bad image of President Jonathan Goodluck, to prepare him for the forthcoming election for his re-election.

Well, I think that this a worthy but troubling enough news to stop me on my tracks. Did the Americans not promise to help Nigeria find the girls? I think they did, so what happened to that promise? Did the Nigerian government succeed in obtaining the release of the girls? No, they did not. There are so many other questions whirling in my head, but I will like to know the answer to just this two.

It would seem that America is so disgusted with the state of things in Nigeria that they have quietly backed off from their promise. This I know, that if America is allowed to find those girls and get them released, the whole thing would have been an old story by now. So, what happened? What went wrong?

On what basis, would the Nigerian government be looking to clean up her battered image? Is it on the basis that they have quelled Boko Haram, or found and returned the girls? Poor Nigeria!…

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When I read about the failures of the Nigerian Military in quelling the assaults of Boko Haram, it churns my stomach. How can anyone explain the fact that there is a state of emergency in all of those areas where Boko Haram still goes on a daily rampage? How does the Military want anyone to believe that they are not behind this whole tragedy. We must remember that the Nigerian Military is made up of mostly Northerners. That is the only body that has consistently rebuffed equal representation as provided by the law. So, the failures of the Military in controlling the situation is very suspicious. And they can never justify it with the excuses we hear from them: that they are out-numbered,… that they are not as equipped as … and the saddest of all the excuses: that they are hungry, and not well paid.

Everyone there is hungry. Only the few who have access to the booty can truthfully say that they are not hungry. Even if these fat cats claim that they are hungry, their looks will say otherwise. So, when the Military say that they are hungry, they are simply saying that they are not eating and hoarding food for themselves, and their generations to come.

They are not hungry. They are simply fighting a covert, but losing battle against the country that they are paid to protect.

(We will continue).

When I read about the failures of the Nigerian Military in quelling the assaults of Boko Haram, it churns my stomach. How can anyone explain the fact that there is a state of emergency in all of those areas where Boko Haram still goes on a daily rampage? How does the Military want anyone to believe that they are not behind this whole tragedy. We must remember that the Nigerian Military is made up of mostly Northerners. That is the only body that has consistently rebuffed equal representation as provided by the law. So, the failures of the Military in controlling the situation is very suspicious. And they can never justify it with the excuses we hear from them: that they are out-numbered,… that they are not as equipped as … and the saddest of all the excuses: that they are hungry, and not well paid.

Everyone there is hungry. Only the few who have access to the booty can truthfully say that they are not hungry. Even if these fat cats claim that they are hungry, their looks will say otherwise. So, when the Militarys say that they are hungry, they are simply saying that they are not eating and hoarding food for themselves, and their generations to come.

They are not hungry. They are simply fighting a covert, but losing battle against the country that they are paid to protect.

(We will continue).

It is becoming clear now to everyone that the Nigerian government is seriously hoping that the world’s outrage over the abducted girls will quietly die down and be forgotten. But that is not going to happen. This is because there are some people, out there, like myself, who have vowed to keep banging on that issue, on a daily basis until we know the final outcome of the fate of those girls. And I hope that, that final outcome will be their release and return.

In the meantime Boko Haram has continued to go on a daily rampage of killing and abducting women. We hear that recently they have added some boys among the abducted. They did something similar to that before, but we learnt later that the boys were all promptly killed off, I suspect, to save on how many mouths to feed.

It is also clear from their recent modus of operation that they are desperate to find a quick resolution to the mess in which they find themselves. It must be costing them to keep and feed those girls. So they continue to do a daily onslaught hoping that, that would force the general public to call them in and give them, on a plater, all that they would demand. Those ruffians still believe that they have a bargaining power, that those girls will provide of them that bargaining power. The end will tell.

(We will continue).

Today, I decided to attempt something that I knew from the beginning was impossible, but I did it anyway. I tried to put myself in the shoes of those girls, to see whether I can feel what they feel, so as to experience what they might be experiencing. The attempt was a total failure. No one can feel what another feels until that one is exactly where the other has been. I could’t feel anything close to what those poor wretched girls are feeling, unless I was willing to jump right into hell.

I feel for them, and wish I could do more for them other than venting. When I close my eyes and try to visualize these girls with my inner eyes, everything goes blank. At first, it goes deep dark blank, then as I continue to keep my eyes closed, the black begins to slowly dissolve into grey, and from grey, into clear white. I wish I could understand the meaning of the images I see. I have tried to interpret it to mean that although the girls are in some deep emotional straight, the clear white means that there is hope, there is light at the end of the tunnel, they will eventually return.

Already, I can see more activities in the news about the girls today. Even the Nigerian government that previously “wrapped up” their investigation on the girls are also talking. That is a good thing.

(We will continue).

It warmed my heart yesterday to see the Nigerian soccer team playing against Bosnia in Brazil sporting flags and jerseys on which they were protesting the activities of Boko Haram in Nigeria and the abduction of the 276 school girls for all the world to see. That will help, I hope, at least to keep alive the fate of those girls, and to remind the world that those girls are still missing, and are yet to return.

Now that the Nigerian government has “wrapped up” their investigation on the abduction of those girls without telling us what is next, it is left for the free world, to continue to prod the Nigerian government not to shelve the fate of those girls, or let it dissolve into thin air, into nothing. Those girls, need us to continue to hold them up in our prayers, they need to believe that there are people out there who are holding them up in whichever way to keep their predicament alive and current.

Those girls’ travails will remain an unfinished business for Nigeria and for the whole world until they return. Their case must not be “wrapped up,” it must remain open until it is solved, no matter how long it takes. We just pray that it will not take much longer.

(We will continue).

I am in shock right now! I just read that the Nigerian government has wrapped up their investigation on the abducted school girls without any conclusions, or way forward. This has raised millions of questions in my head. What does “wrapping up” the investigation mean here? Does it mean that they are done with making sure the girls return? That there will be no more investigations? I had always believed that they were actively looking for ways to free these girls, and not just investigating their abduction? This is because I had also believed that they always knew the whereabouts of these girls.

Which way now? Where do we go from here? I was afraid that things will come to this, that these girls will be abandoned to their fate by their own government as they do to their country men and women everywhere else. How can President Jonathan justify this? If his intention is to openly “wrap up” the investigation, but covertly continue the search, why make the announcement? Searching for ways to free the girls and investigating their abduction are two different things. We know how they were abducted. All we want to know is when and not how they will be release.…. We don’t need details, we just want results.

Therefore the President should keep his “wrapping up” to himself and step up with looking for ways to free those girls.

(We will continue).

Always, before I write my blog, I search the world news for anything about the abducted girls, but my search always returns nothing. Most news about these girls is either stale, or a repeat of what we have heard before. I have talked a lot about the corruption in Nigeria that may be holding up the finding of these girls, and how this corruption is so deeply rooted and so widely spread that it will be daunting eliminating it. But of course nothing is impossible with God.

Today as I was searching world’s news, I came across news from Nigeria and how she deals with this particular type of corruption. This son of one of our past very corrupt leaders, himself also very corrupt, agreed to return a miserly $227 million to the government if corruption charges against him were dropped. This man’s late dad stole billions, so a few millions for his GOOD name and a clean slate, and the officials in one accord, jumped in with both legs and exonerated him of his own guilt. Now he deems himself clean enough to run for governorship.

I promise you that if that money ever gets into the official’s hands, it will vanish before anyone can say Jack Robinson. The about half a billion dollars that was sequestered from the late dad and returned before this recent one, half of it has already grown wings and flown.

(We will continue).