- As Negotiator says some abducted Chibok girls refused freedom in swap deal
The Lagos State Government has ordered Vehicle Inspection Officers to leave Lagos roads.
It was gathered that Governor Akinwunmi Ambode handed down the directive as a result of public complaints.
Sources in the Ambode-led administration also said the removal of the officers from the state’s roads was to reposition the outfit.
“The story on a painter, whose car got burnt in VIO’s custody, caused a discreet investigation into the activities of the outfit and I can tell you that the report was not palatable.
“Apart from this, complaints about the overzealousness of some VIO men have reached a high level.”
The governor, who said he would not tolerate any highhandedness in his administration, ordered them out of Lagos roads until further notice,” one of the sources said.
A VIO source, however, said the governor told them to leave the roads and go on ‘compulsory retraining on the use of modern technology in order to be humane in dealing with the public,’ adding that the VIOs would be back on the road soon.
It was gathered that the training had been arranged since the officers left the road last week.
The state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Steve Ayorinde, said nobody had hindered the VIOs from performing their duties.
He said, “The truth is that the transport ministry is undergoing restructuring, including the VIOs. The commissioner for transportation had made some recommendations, which he will present at the State Executive Council meeting and things can move forward from there.
“But we all believe that the VIOs’ activities should be technologically driven and more. These will be seen soon.”
In the meantime, some of the schoolgirls, abducted by Boko Haram militants from the Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, in April 2014, refused to be part of a group of 82 girls freed at the weekend, one of the negotiators involved in the release said on Monday.
After over three years in captivity, 82 of the schoolgirls were released out of the more than 200 students, who were still in the terrorists’ captivity in exchange for some detained Boko Haram’s suspects.
In October last year, 21 of the kidnapped girls were released in a deal brokered by Switzerland and the International Committee of the Red Cross while 113 of the girls are believed to be still held in captivity by the terrorists.
A legal practitioner and mediator, Zannah Mustapha, said some of the abducted girls refused to join the train to freedom, fuelling fears that they had been radicalised by the jihadists, and might be afraid, ashamed or even too powerful to return to their old lives.
“Some girls refused to return. I have never talked to one of the girls about their reasons,” said 57-year-old Mustapha, who acted as an intermediary in the latest negotiations between the Nigerian government and Boko Haram, while speaking with Reuters.
“As a mediator, it is not part of my mandate to force them (to return home).”
A Nigerian psychologist, Fatima Akilu, believed that the girls might preferred to identify with their captors instead of embracing freedom.
“They develop Stockholm syndrome, identify with captors and want to remain,” said Akilu, who has run deradicalisation programmes for Boko Haram militants and women abducted by them.
“Some are afraid of what to expect, the unknown. We don’t know how much influence their husbands have in coercing them not to go back,” added Akilu, head of the Neem Foundation, a non-profit group aimed at countering extremism in Nigeria.
Mustapha explained that future talks between the government and the sect would extend beyond the release of the remaining Chibok girls in captivity and focus on negotiating peace in the conflict-hit North-East.
His role as a mediator dates back to 2007, when he founded the Future Prowess Primary School in Maiduguri, capital of Borno State.
When conflict broke out in 2009, the school remained open and was said to have even enrolled those children born to Boko Haram fighters.
He added, “We are not just talking; we are still actively working towards peace.
“Even though we have got (some of) the girls back, I don’t feel we have made much progress. After the (release of) the 21 girls, how many hundreds have been killed by suicide bombings?”
“While Boko Haram may indeed hold out in releasing all of the hostages to maintain some form of leverage, the reality is that the girls have limited value to the sect outside of public relations capital and are likely placing a strain on resources.”
Punch
