After some hard thinking, I can now dare to say why I think all the girls abducted by the Boko Haram are kept in one camp. The primary question here is why the girls were taken. Once we determine a plausible motive, it will be easy to create a scenario which meets the motive.
In my opinion, the girls were abducted for one primary reason and one secondary reason – S****X and soldiers (suicide bombers.) That is why they needed so many girls. It is also an indication that the efforts of the military and the ‘civilian JTF’ is yielding fruits. It is an indication that the insurgents may have started finding it difficult to easily get into town to satiate their S****Xual desires, and had no option left but to take the huge risk of abducting more than a hundred young girls at the same time. Of course, we must all agree that they did not abduct the girls for ransom or for use as bargaining chips.
Interestingly, the girls may be their albatross. They are prisoners and not necessarily converts. This means that they may be rebellious and continually seek ways to escape. This may not be so difficult since the camp will not be built up and protected like a prison. Probably they will use chains and ropes to restrain the girls. Because of the huge number, the possibilities of a guard making a mistake is high. The possibilities of a guard going soft on one of the girls and aiding her escape by at least looking the other way is also high. The BH made a major mistake in abducting those girls, but whether we are able to effectively utilize that mistake to our advantage is another matter entirely.
The girls will be in a camp because the BH will have a major camp from where they operate. Although they may have a few cells within the towns and villages in the North East, they are not likely to keep those girls in any of them.
The military and the posse should do well to locate that camp, and find the girls. Just imagining the horrors those children will be passing through is enough to send shivers down one’s spine. But all we can do is to imagine it, the girls will be living it.
A more chilling thought is that the longer the girls stay in captivity, the more the possibility of some of them being indoctrinated and brainwashed to become suicide bombers. A strict regimen of extreme punishment to teach fear, anger and hatred, and then using indoctrination to turn that anger against the society can achieve that abominable objective. The strategy may be to use types of S****Xual activity one may not even imagine to break their spirit. Having made them feel less than human, they will then use punishment and indoctrination to turn them against the society – as lethal weapons. A 15 year old girl who believes she has nothing to live for, and who may not even want to ever be found because she thinks her shame is too much and unbearable, and who has been psychologically turned to blame the society for not protecting or saving her can be a very lethal weapon indeed, in the wrong hands.
They need to be found and rescued today. The earlier they are found, the less will be the likelihood of their having permanent scars – mentally and physically.