Nigeria, Aug. 6 -- Recently, Governor Seyi Makinde inaugurated the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the abduction of schoolchildren and teachers in Oriire Local Government Area. The panel is chaired by a retired Justice of the Court of Appeal, Professor Mojeed Owoade, and includes some of the most credible names in Nigerian public life, among them the human rights lawyer, Ayo Obe, and the democracy scholar, Professor Jibrin Ibrahim. I write to make a simple appeal to the people of Oyo State and to all Nigerians: give this commission an open mind, and give it your testimony.

I make this appeal as a scholar of homeland security who has studied mass abductions since Chibok, and I make it with a comparison that Nigerians should sit with. ...