Nigeria president vows full scale offensive against Boko Haram

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan issued strong words for the armed group that claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of nearly 300 schoolgirls last month, vowing on Thursday that the government would do everything possible to bring the girls home.

"I am determined to protect our democracy, our national unity and our political stability, by waging a total war against terrorism," he said, later adding that "the menace of Boko Haram will surely come to an end."

Despite the declarations of strength, Jonathan’s speech was short on specifics. He failed to mention how his government would work to rescue the abducted girls. And he did not mention how the military plans to tackle Boko Haram, even as 35 people were reportedly killed Thursday in the northeastern state of Borno, which is seen as the heart of the five-year insurgency that has killed thousands, including over 2,000 so far this year. 

“It is now 45 days since the horrifying abduction of the college girls of Chibok,” Jonathan said. “I share the deep pain and anxiety of their parents and guardians, and I assure them once again that government will continue to do everything possible to bring our daughters home.”

Some experts, however, say it’s not entirely clear what can be done. Jonathan’s speech, they say, was meant to simply assuage the public. 

“I think the rhetoric is for political and public consumption,” said EJ Hogendoorn, of the International Crisis Group. “Unfortunately, President Goodluck Jonathan’s options in terms of rescuing the girls safely are pretty limited.”

On Wednesday, the Borno state education commissioner told reporters that four of the kidnapped girls had escaped their captors, leaving over 200 still missing. Earlier this week, military officials said they knew where the missing girls were, but indicated they were wary of using force to rescue them out of fear of endangering their lives.

“The real possibility is that were there to be a military rescue mission that Boko Haram would respond by killing the girls,” said Hogendoorn. 

Nigerians, though, were expecting Jonathan to give them a specific update on search and rescue efforts. Many were left disappointed by the government’s inability to free the girls. Among them was Lawan Abana, whose sisters and nieces were kidnapped and are still missing. 

“[He] did not give us details about the efforts being put in by the military to actually rescue the girls,” Abana told Al Jazeera. “We understand that military dictates of intelligence may not allow for him to go into details, but we felt that what would have come out of his speech would have been specific, detailed and consoling to us who have been affected by the incident.”

Jonathan spoke at length about what he called “foreign elements, collaborating with some of our misguided citizens,” trying to “bring down our country.” The Nigerian president also invoked Al-Qaeda, the 9/11 attacks and the Boston bombings, saying the “same warped and ferocious worldview” that led to those incidents was manifesting itself in Nigeria.

To some, that rhetoric was meant to garner help for the country’s fight against Boko Haram.

“Clearly, President Goodluck Jonathan is trying to gather more external support in his efforts to free these girls and by highlighting purported links to [Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb] and Al-Qaeda central, that obviously gathers greater attention from major partners like the United States and the U.K. and France,” Hogendoorn said.

Hogendoorn pointed out that while Boko Haram members have links to radical groups in sub-Saharan African and beyond, the organization “remains mostly focused on a domestic agenda.”

Boko Haram seeks a separate Islamic state in the country’s northeast. The United States, meanwhile, has deployed 80 military personnel along with surveillance aircraft to nearby Chad to aid with the search effort. 

Earlier this week, there were reports that former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo had met Boko Haram representatives to broker a deal to free the girls. While that may have garnered some hope among families with missing children, there has been little new information since that time about what is being done by the government.

Nigerian military forces, meanwhile, have been criticized for their slow response to the crisis. They are said to be overstretched and suffering from lack a motivation. 

Hogendoorn pointed out that their task is by no means an easy one. He said the areas under a state of emergency, which include the northeastern states of Yobe, Borno and Adamawa, in which the military is trying to take control with six to 10,000 troops, is larger than California. 

“There are credible allegations of corruption and certainly of low morale amongst the troops of this area," he said. "You would question whether or not those troops are willing to risk their lives to engage Boko Haram very forcefully.”

Ultimately, Hogendoorn said, the real issue at the heart of the conflict is widespread dissatisfaction with corruption and bad governance throughout Nigeria, but particularly in the northeast.

“Unless Nigeria as a whole starts tackling these problems, they’re not going to be able to address the problem that is Boko Haram,” he said. 

Al Jazeera's Yvonne Ndege, reporting from Abuja, contributed to this report