by Bunmi Olaniyan

I came away from the meeting with the former minister wiser and more clued in concerning several issues surrounding Bring back our girls which was opaque to me prior, in addition a new found appreciation for the challenges they are faced with. 

A lot of my life views and base convictions morally and otherwise have been molten and shaped out of personal events encircling general purview of my life. Nucleus at the centre of such experiences is the overreaching and overwhelming influences of the family patriarch my father, extending also to general filial happenstance, uncles, aunties and the likes.

To catch up with my convoluted mental musings  as I presently hibernate, to make sense of the path to location haphazard and meandering though it is, I will share two incidents that occurred during my younger years both of which has left an indelible moral mark upon my psyche and general personality traits.

These incidents during my childhood which stands out vividly are my dad’s accounts of his stewardship while serving in government, and his response to an allegation of serious moral infraction brought home by one of my elder brothers, to his credit he was neither dismissive nor vague as most parents are wont to. He summoned us and stated his own side of the story with evidence and admonished us thereafter, never to be reluctant or timid in inquiry if we heard anything about him outside, or had questions bordering upon any perceived infractions or actions credited to him.  Having grown up responsible for all my actions and inactions, how hard certain moral decisions have been for me to make in the course of my professional or business life, I am starting to understand and appreciate the import of the lessons and influence.

Two enduring lessons inculcated in my young impressionable mind, borders upon strength of character which instil strong moral convictions and the fearlessness which comes from this, as influence to speak my mind without fear or favour.

The  opinion piece I was doing for this week was on a totally different subject, until the whole of social media went agog concerning the Malala visit and ensuing controversy, still rumbling on without any sign of ceasing or let up from both sides. To ignore this and write on something else, especially with the medium and long term implications this will have on our National psyche and also the instructive meeting, the first since the Chibok girls were abducted over 3months ago for me will be irresponsible.

A disclaimer must be offered at this point though, this opinion piece will be based on the platform and initial premise of frank admission concerning Government failure and total mishandling of the whole Chibok issue. Having said that crucial to also point out as well is a perceived failure and inadequate information dissemination and awareness by #BringBackOurGirls (BBOG) organisers.

Judging by the enthusiastic response of government to the Malala solidarity visit, it is safe to assume   they were favourably disposed to it, same as #BringBackOurGirls Organisers in Abuja albeit for different reasons. A welcome morale booster for the bring back our girls organisers and members led by the former Minister Madam Ezekwesili especially with the sinister cocoon of hate, vitriol and criticism they had to contend with. For the government it was a welcome boon, a chance to claw back the lost goodwill and public trust, and for the Nigerians desirous of an expeditious end to the sad episode, it was a great and welcome avenue for interaction between both sides and more important a chance to re-open a corridor of communication and mutually beneficial discourse for the sake of those abducted girls.

From the limited news we are able to glean Malala met BBOG Abuja organisers and some of the parents and escaped girls, thereafter had a meeting with President Jonathan tabling the request  she was asked to by the organisers and parents  “a meeting between Chibok parents and the President” which is where the story starts getting interesting. Conflicting stories emerged depending on what side of the divide you read their accounts.

The behemoth of  Government publicity machine, led by the irrepressible Dr Doyin Okupe went to town claiming that the #BringBackOurGirls organisers intimidated the Chibok leadership and parents into snubbing the President’s offer of a meeting, he added in the communiqué that Malala pleaded on the phone with the organisers, at a point crying over the phone. Measured though the public outcry/response was to these Government disclosures attributed to bring back our girl’s organisers, nevertheless it began to foster a groundswell of cynicism towards the cause and personae of the Organisers, although they have vehemently refuted this assertion and challenged Government to show the public records of the deliberations.

While this was playing out in the public sphere Government delivered another bombshell, propagated and sustained in the public by their own supporters, they allege the movement was linked to the opposition APC and they had ample evidence showing an APC chieftain who also doubles as bring back our girls co-covener met with a British Pr firm. While this ordinarily should not be an issue even if it was true, considering virtually all non-profit organisations have Pr firms they actively use to front their campaigns, the convoluted news portrayal and conflicting news has fostered so much mistrust that even the mundane can be skilfully tailored to appear sinister.

In all of these tit for tat verbal bants going back and forth, as spectators all we had to rely on was the snippets of information from the organiser’s  Abuja sitting, their tweets were not sustained and consistent but frequent and random, the vast information chasm resulting in this quickly filled with rumours and half-truths. From the fore going it is safe and objective to conclude that as things stand, getting the correct information as regards the Chibok issues from both sides seems the challenge and the main overriding issue here.

I was opportuned to be at a meeting with the leader of the BBOG initiative Mrs Ezekwesili days ago, where she not only filled the void as regards the information chasm but attached snippets I was not privy to. At the end of the meeting her accounts of updates disabused my mind of previously held views, but in contrast also strengthened my resolve and views concerning the way and manner they have been handling information as regards the initiative. According to her they never at no time or event had a discussion with Malala prior or after to ask for the President to meet the girls, including a chronological account of the politics and drama that ensued immediately after Malala concluded her meeting with the President. She concluded with some of the deliberations they had going on concerning the immediate to long term targets, chief of which is rehabilitation and counselling of the escaped girls which will serve as a template for how the rest of the girls will be treated when they are hopefully rescued.

Without over flogging the issue or going into a long winded account of the whole issues I came away with the following
1. There was no occasion or instance where Malala was asked to request a meeting of Chibok Parents with the President
2.The BBOG Abuja by the admission of their leader has no connection with the alleged PR firm they are accused of trying to engage
3.There is a serious communications fracture between BBOG organisers and a lot of Nigerians as regards cogent issues.

I came away from the meeting with the former minister wiser and more clued in concerning several issues surrounding Bring back our girls which was opaque to me prior, in addition a new found appreciation for the challenges they are faced with. While I appreciate that I asked myself how many Nigerians have access to the true picture as it were.

I have learnt that dearth of information dissemination, especially on a people powered and supported initiative like #BringBackOurGirls will definitely foster and drive rumours and half-truths. A constrained information void will in its wake create a free and unencumbered avenue for fifth columnists with sinister motives to cause mischief by filling that empty void with their own version of the truth. Rumours, half-truths or outright lies consistently repeated if not robustly addressed will turn to the truth.

While the Government has a clear, concise and unambiguous information dissemination channel in throwing out their information either to state their side of the story or discredit/malign the campaign. Organisers have not adequately responded to these orchestrated designs or created a veritable information and awareness portal to robustly disabuse Nigerian’s minds.

I searched for #BringBackOurGirls group on Facebook and I found over 10 different groups, virtually all of them had absolutely no information updates on what is really going on with the group. There is no clean and sustained cohesion in information gathering and dissemination which to me is inadequate and a shame, and if not addressed will lead to further erosion of trust, perceptions will be misunderstood and invariably the general public will lose interest.

The organisers also have to publicly refute any implicit or explicit political affiliation or support, this is pertinent and instructive in order to clear the air, and not give naysayers a foundation no matter how small to build a rumour upon, and it will also prevent any semblance of implied political bias which is threatening to blight, even submerge, an otherwise selfless and altruistic campaign.

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Olubunmi Olaniyan works in the IT sector in West Midlands UK as a software testing analyst in JHC LLP and is a a writer, social commentator and budding entrepreneur. He studied in the University of Salford Manchester for his BSc in politics with Criminology and Postgraduate in Coventry University obtaining an MA in Terrorism, International Crime and Global Security