On Wednesday, July 23, Nigeria and other members of the international community marked the 100th day of the abduction of over 200 schoolgirls from Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, by the Boko Haram sect.
The occasion was marked with prayers for the release of the girls by concerned persons in different parts of the country, while President Goodluck Jonathan, a day before the event, met with some of the girls who escaped from the Boko Haram den and reiterated his administration’s strong commitment to the release of those still in the custody of the sect, and the routing of Boko Haram from the country.
The occasion did not escape the notice of the international community as vigils were held in many countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, including Togo, Tunisia, Tanzania, India and Pakistan. Former British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, on Tuesday, urged the world to band together to send the message that the girls will not be forgotten, even as he expressed hope for a breakthrough in the search for the girls.
The failure to rescue the Chibok girls since their abduction on April 14 has left the world in suspense. There is growing anger on what appears to be the inadequacy of the efforts to rescue the girls.
Although senior government officials have severally claimed to know the location of the girls, no one has said anything about the conditions under which they are being held or what they are going through.
This sad state of affairs calls for even more commitment to the efforts to rescue the girls. Already, 11 of the parents and guardians of the schoolgirls have reportedly died since they were abducted.
We appreciate the president’s constant assurances that the girls will soon be released, and his explanations on the importance of ensuring the safety of the girls. However, it must be stated that the delay in meeting with the girls who escaped and the parents of the ones still in captivity, as well as the seeming refusal to visit Chibok, gave rise to the accusation that the president had been rather insensitive on the matter of the abduction. But, he has continued to maintain that he will visit Chibok when the girls are released and he is able to give good news to their parents.
One fact that has, however, emerged from the handling of the abduction issue so far is the need for more communication between the government and the people on the dastardly incident. It is important that the Presidency keeps the people aware of its efforts to resolve the problem. Again, we enjoin the government to guard against its growing penchant for the criminalization of the groups that are campaigning for the rescue of the girls, even as we advise the groups to avoid politicization of their campaigns. The campaigns for action on the release of the girls should not be turned into rallies against the president. That will be distractive and counter-productive to the objective of getting the girls back.
The matter of the abduction of the girls is a very serious one. The very fact that our security agencies have been unable to get the girls back even with the assistance from countries such as America, the United Kingdom, China and France is a pointer to the fact that this problem is not a tea party. It requires   cooperation and the support of all Nigerians for the government’s efforts on the matter.
No matter what the authorities may say, however, the fact that the girls have remained with their abductors for over 100 days now is an indication that whatever they have been doing has, so far, not yielded the desired result. The implication of this is that the government must either speed up the line of action it has chosen, or consider a change of direction. If the release of the girls is to be achieved through negotiation with the sect, let it be done speedily. Every minute that the abducted girls spend in Boko Haram captivity is a minute too long. Nothing but their release will douse the demands for their release, and the government must accept this fact and do everything in its power to ensure that they are released soon.
It is necessary for us to approach this problem with a unity of purpose that would enable us relegate ethnic, regional, religious and political differences to the backburner. The matter is very delicate and has to be handled with utmost care.
But then, we cannot allow this problem to continue to fester. Time has come for us to pull all the stops.  A hundred days is too long a time for these vulnerable   girls to be separated from their families and left in the den of insurgents.
But, we cannot make progress with the seemingly divided house we are prosecuting this war with. Let us take politics out of it. Let us put patriotism before partisanship, and end this ride on the tiger’s back.
We can only win this war by approaching insurgency as a common enemy of all of us. Let us learn from other countries where all citizens, including politicians of all hues, close ranks against threats to the continuing corporate existence of their countries, instead of treating them as the responsibility of the ruling party alone.

100 days after Chibok girls abduction