Missing girls: Don't blame the Nigerian govt, says Oronto Douglas

The Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Research, Documentation and Strategy, Barrister Oronto Douglas, has said that the blame for the missing girls should not be heaped on the Nigerian government.

Douglas, in an interview published in the Sunday edition of the Washington Post, said that the government was being careful in ensuring that the girls were safe while the process of securing their freedom was intensified.

In the interview, Douglas insisted that it was  “not helpful” to heap blame  for the missing girls  upon the government in Abuja, adding that the abductors were vicious and dangerous who could harm the girls if the situation was not well handled.

“The Nigerian government is doing all it can in collaboration with its allies to ensure that our daughters, the girls, are brought back home,” said  Douglas.

He said: “This is not about politics, it is about the protection of human lives…The challenge to locate the missing schoolgirls and free them from captivity is a complex one. Boko Haram, as outlined here, is a ruthless, fanatical group that has escalated its war against the Nigerian state, and authorities fear that an aggressive operation could lead to the militants further harming their captives.

“In an attempt to rescue the girls, we must not also endanger their lives,” he said.