Welcome Chibok Girls

Three years after the unfortunate event where well over 200 girls were abducted from their school in Chibok, Maiduguri, hope has been rekindled when 82 of them were released earlier this month.

One cannot imagine the gross pain the families of these lost ones must have felt; the uncertainty of the fate that may have befallen them and the slowly fading hope of ever seeing them again. Indeed, it is causes like the #Bring Back Our Girls Campaign have stopped us from forgetting those girls and the horror they and their families pass through.

But now that a great number of them have been released, maybe, just maybe the remaining 113 will also make it to safety soon. However, for now, all hands have to be on deck to ensure these recently released girls are fully integrated into society without the vestiges of the trauma they must have gone through.

I recall that when 21 when release in October 2016, so many conspiracy stories were spun, likewise this time around. But then, what do we expect? Almost everything is politicized in Nigeria, in fact, in all parts of the world, it is a common practice. Therefore, the point of interest should not be the intricacies of how the negotiations were done, the lies that may have been told or how convenient it is that the releases seem to happen only in May or October when important events like Democracy Day or Independence Day are celebrated.

Supposing you were one of those girls or a family member, would you care what political charades are being performed right now? All that matters is that they are back. Let us be happy about that, pray for the remaining then deal with the inconsistencies in the narrative later. Let us all say instead, “our dear Chibok girls, you are welcome home”.