THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO STOP ISOLATING THE #CHIBOKGIRLS FROM THEIR FAMILIES

On Tuesday, a relative of one of the 21 Chibok girls freed in December 2016, Peter Joseph revealed on a program on Al-Jazeera, The Stream how the Federal Government continues to isolate the girls from their families, and also restricts them from speaking about their experiences in the three years they spent in Boko Haram captivity.

Expectedly, the Presidency has since denied the accusation by claiming that a planned trip to Chibok by the girls for the Easter holidays had to be aborted due to security concerns and 18 parents had just paid a three-day visit to the girls. He also revealed plans to have the girls visit their families every three months.

Peter Joseph’s accusation is not the first – the columnist Adaobi Nwaubani had made similar accusation in March 2017 while writing for the New York Times. What Joseph said only corroborates her account.

The defence offered by the Presidency is, in our opinion, weak and does not still address the issue of gagging the girls with respect to their experiences in the hands of the terrorists. It also throws up a lot of questions regarding the motive behind the Federal Government continued sequestration of the rescued girls.

While it is not expected that the girls will go back to living normally immediately they are rescued and there will be need for medical treatments, psychological counseling, intelligence debriefing and deradicalization (as it is possible that these girls might have been indoctrinated to support the cause of Boko Haram while in captivity), isolating them from their families does not serve to help the girls nor their families.

After three years away from their families who were in the dark completely over the fate of their daughters, it is only expected that they will be reunited and spend as much time as possible. However, this situation has in many ways become like an exchange of prisons for the girls: from terrorists’ camps to government-sanctioned sequestration.

The Federal Government needs to offer convincing explanations on why such isolation is necessary – whether for medical, psychological or security reasons. This explanation should first be offered to the parents and families in order to calm the emotional turmoil that they continue to go by not being able to be with their children. This explanation should also include reasons for the gag order placed on the girls.

Also, the Federal Government should explore ways for the families to spend time with the children without jeopardising whatever rehabilitation work that is ongoing. As a matter of fact, access to their families and loved ones is likely to speed up the process of the healing of the girls.

Lastly, the Nigerian public needs to know the reasons for these actions in order to answer the numerous questions on the minds of people. The Chibok Girls saga remains one of the most contentious issues in Nigerian history, and there still exists people who are of the opinion that the entire abduction was staged. Situations like this where there are no convincing official explanations create the vacuum for conspiracy theories to grow and thrive.