Categories: News

Amid Criticism, Jonathan Cancels Visit to Chibok

On Friday, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan (pictured) cancelled his stop in Borno State, according to the BBC.

On his way to the Boko Haram summit in France, President Jonathan was supposed to stop in Chibok, where Government Secondary School students were kidnapped by the terrorist organization more than a month ago. The stop would have been a show of support to the community that has been gripped by fear and anxiety since Boko Haram’s brazen abduction.

Instead, officials announced that the President was forgoing the stop due to “security reasons.”

While the Boko Haram summit — which will be attended by neighboring countries Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Benin in addition to the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union — is a significant event to reportedly “discuss fresh strategies for dealing with the security threat posed by Boko Haram and other terrorist groups in west and Central Africa,” the fact that Jonathan has not visited the embattled area since the abduction and is now cancelling his first attempted visit will surely be seen as a slap in the face of parents, siblings, and community members who see his efforts and management of the debacle as severely lacking.

Female student stand in a school in Maiduguri, in northern Nigeria

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Photos of Chibok, Nigeria

U.S. officials, such as Director for African Affairs Alice Friend, have also joined in on the criticism, describing Nigeria’s security forces “slow to adapt with new strategies and new tactics.” Friend also stated that the United States has been unable to assist the Nigerian military due to “troubling” atrocities conducted by the military. “We cannot ignore that Nigeria can be an extremely challenging partner to work with,” she added.

It took three weeks to finally get a glimpse of the missing girls, after seemingly crazed terrorist Abubakar Shekau demanded the release of fellow insurgents in exchange for the girls.

Since then, Boko Haram has continued to wage a devastating attack on northern Nigeria’s citizens, with its daily ambushes and explosions.

Frustrated with the dearth of arms and resources given to them, soldiers reportedly fired on their own commander, Maj-Gen Ahmed Mohammed, earlier this week, after sustaining yet another ambush on Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, Thursday reportedly saw yet another attack on village Gamboru Ngala, which just lost nearly 300 people last week after Boko Haram threw hand grenades and rocket launchers in to a bustling marketplace.

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