Mark Amaza: 9 questions we should be asking about Chibok

In the almost four years of the insurgency waged by the Boko Haram terrorist group, there has rarely been a crime committed by them as heinous as the abduction of 234 girls (or 270 girls) from a secondary school in Chibok, Borno State.
In the almost three weeks since the abduction has happened, there has been a media firestorm globally and protests around the world to exert pressure on the government not treat this incident with any levity, especially considering the rumors that these young girls might be forced to become sex slaves of the terrorists.
However, as the days roll by, a lot of questions have arisen as to how this incident happened and how the terrorists are still being able to operate:

- If all the boarding secondary schools in Borno State had been closed down but the Government Secondary School, Chibok was opened to enable the students take their Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (SSCE), why wasn’t adequate security provided and not just the two soldiers who were easily overpowered?
- It has just emerged that the school is actually a mixed school and not an all-girls’ school. How come none of the male students, about 135 of them who were present in the school for the SSCE exams, was harmed during the attack? This is a strong departure from the known modus operandi of Boko Haram which has in the past attacked higher institutions and attacked male students while leaving the female students unharmed. As recent as February this year, about 42 students at the Federal Government College, Buni Yadi in Yobe State were shot dead by the terrorists.
- According to the head of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) in Nigeria, whose exams the students were taking, the governor refused to heed the recommendations of the Council to move the students to Maiduguri, which is relatively safer, for their final exams, but he declined. Why did the government decline to have the students moved?
- There have been reports of villagers around Sambisa Forest where the terrorists are suspected of being holed up seeing the girls being moved around in a large convoy of trucks and motorcycles. It is curious that such a large convoy can move around parts of the state where there is emergency rule in place and large deployment of soldiers complete with air patrols. How is it that the military has not seen them?
- How do the terrorists get to fuel their cars? Has there been any attempt to track fuel tankers around that region?
- Other reports say that the abducted girls have been ferried across the border and traded into marriage. How porous are our borders that such a large number of girls will be transported without being noticed? How possible is it to use mountainous routes to transport 234 girls?
- What efforts are being made to further secure Chibok town? There are still complaints from residents that there is no security presence and they are still vulnerable to attacks.
- How is the Presidency and the military keeping the families informed, or are they getting information from the media in the same way as everyone else? Is there any care given to make sure that the families do not mentally breakdown? This is a litmus test for how such incidents can be handled and managed by our government.
- Are the girls who have escaped so far being any psychological treatment by either the state or Federal Government to avoid them being traumatized?

These are questions that keep arising from this abduction. We are hoping that answers are provided soon.