Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, has lauded the administration of his principal for responding smartly to the Dapchi and Kanakara abductions while berating former President Goodluck Jonathan for delaying in his response to Chibok Abduction.
This was contained in his weekly piece released on Friday titled, ‘Enemies of the country will lose las las’.
Adesina compared the response of former President Jonathan and incumbent President Buhari to the three major abductions of students in the country.
Armed men had abducted over 300 schoolboys from Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State on December 11, 2020. The students were, however, released after six days in captivity.
It followed similar experiences in the past as gunmen had also kidnapped hundreds of secondary school girls from Chibok, in Borno State; and Dapchi in Yobe State. While some of the students regained freedom, a number of them including Leah Sharibu are still detained in the enclaves of their abductors and sexual abusers.
Adesina drew a comparison between the Kankara and Dapchi abductions that took place during the Buhari administration and the Chibok abduction happened in April 2014, during the Jonathan administration.
The president’s aide wrote, “Now, while there are similitudes between Chibok, Dapchi, and Kankara, the significant difference is the response by the different governments in power. When Chibok occurred, the then Goodluck Jonathan-led government demurred. They balked. They said no abduction happened, and that it was an attempt at negative propaganda by the then party in opposition, the All Progressives Congress, to get power.
“By the time government wisened up, the abductors had gone far, and the trail was cold. They couldn’t recover the girls, not until the Buhari government came a year later, and a large chunk of the hapless abductees were brought back. Some are still unaccounted for till today.”
Adesina further stated, “When Dapchi happened some years later, the Buhari government behaved differently. It swung into action, went after the abductors, and through a combination of deft factors, the girls were brought back. Except for Leah Sharibu.
“With Kankara on our hands, despite the strident cacophony of the market, President Buhari kept his cool and went to work. And the needful was done. The boys were recovered after about six days in captivity.”
He mocked the #BringBackOurBoys campaigners, who he alleged suddenly went mute after the release of the Kankara boys.
Adesina said the campaigners had printed ten million T-Shirts and were warming up for a mass protest to remove the All Progressives Congress from power while the Kankara boys were still in captivity.
He added, “They vanished after the boys were released. But instead of admitting final defeat, instead of throwing up their hands in surrender, saying that this government was smarter than they thought, they became like Janus, the mythical creature with two faces, and began to speak from two different mouths,”