ArcaMax

That's what he said, you may recall, after Boko Haram terrorists kidnapped more than 200 still-missing teenage schoolgirls last April in the northeastern village of Chibok. A Twitter campaign -- (hashtag)BringBackOurGirls -- initiated by Nigerians caught worldwide attention with the help of first lady Michelle Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, British Prime Minister David Cameron and millions of global hashtag activists.

Pressured by that campaign, President Jonathan welcomed U.S., Chinese and French intervention by a small team of advisers last spring. But relations remain tense. A U.S. military training program was recently cancelled in a dispute over arms sales.

Although global interest has faded, Bring Back Our Girls demonstrators still hold daily rallies in Abuja, Nigeria's capital. But they campaign against opposition from counter-demonstrators who back the re-election of President Jonathan.

That's a theme expressed by Nigeria's first lady, Patience Jonathan, who, according to the BBC, accused Bring Back Our Girls activists in May of fabricating the abductions to give the government a bad name.

Nigeria has the resources to do better. The "Giant of Africa," as the country has been called, has about 174 million residents, it's the most populous nation in Africa. With its huge oil and agriculture production, it has surpassed South Africa as the continent's largest economy.

Yet the country is also plagued by corruption, sectarian violence, human rights abuses and a widespread loss of faith in the government's willingness to do anything to improve the lives of its citizens.

Civilian volunteers have become a third force in the besieged villages of the north, but they prove to be little match for the brutality and well-armed Boko Haram.

Why, we might well ask, is the Nigerian army one of the United Nation's top 10 contributors to its peacekeeping efforts in trouble spots like Darfur, yet scandalously ineffective against Boko Haram-related troubles in their own country?

And to President Obama, Nigeria joins Iraq, Syria and Libya as a place where the war against al-Qaida-style terrorism appears to have stalled.

Some people are liberated by politics. Nigerians, despite the rest of the world's best intentions, continue to be trapped by it. When the world pays little attention, the tyranny wins.

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E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@tribune.com.

(c) 2015 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.