Malala was here

As everyone knows, Malala’s comely face has come to represent one of steely determination against oppression of female gender and the girl- child. Malala personifies the brutal danger and cruel onslaught against the wellbeing of the fairer sex in an increasingly vicious world. Ever since she was shot in the head by the Taliban for […]

As everyone knows, Malala’s comely face has come to represent one of steely determination against oppression of female gender and the girl- child. Malala personifies the brutal danger and cruel onslaught against the wellbeing of the fairer sex in an increasingly vicious world.
Ever since she was shot in the head by the Taliban for daring to defy its order banning girls from attending school in her part of Pakistan, and medical science battled to save her life by removing the bullet lodged in her young brain, she had galvanised the good will of the whole world and become a world citizen.  By surviving the gruesome injury caused by the bullet that had to be extracted painstakingly from her delicate brain in her home country and later in the UK for more exquisite and expert management by neuro-surgeons, not only did the whole world empathise with her, she herself grew to embody a complex array of virtuous tendencies.
The first one being that on her young shoulders was thrust the elemental and old age battle against consigning the womenfolk to the back burner of society, merely as hewers of wood and drawers of water. In her own case she almost paid with her life for seeking knowledge rather than wallow in ignorance. A poignant point was made when those treating her at the hospital in the UK thought she was strong and lucid enough to be presented to the public for the first time since she was shot. She told journalists at that occasion that all she wanted to do was to be like the female medical doctor (who must have been one of her handlers) standing by her side to bring succour to those who need healing.
You wonder what could be so wrong with a teenager wanting to become a doctor that there had to be an assault on her young life.  It was hardly surprising therefore that she had to become a dedicated crusader for the education of the girl-child not only in her own country but also throughout the world. But Malala Yusafsai is not only crusading against the denial of education opportunity to the girl-child, she is also raging against all forms of depraved assaults on the woman, including incessant rape of young girls and their brutal killings as carried out regularly in India- where a young college girl was gang-raped and then sexually mutilated and murdered, or their seizure and incarceration by otherwise normal men who turn them into sex slaves to satiate their deranged and perverse sexual orgies. Ariel Castro, a one-time resident of Cleveland, Ohio, US, was sentenced to life imprisonment for kidnapping and raping three women for over a decade. Knowing his beastly act no longer entitles him to live among normal human beings, not even in prison; he had to hang himself in the end to cut short a life that would have been purgation on earth.
In the public role she has assumed, therefore, Malala Yusafsai has become the conscience of all women in the whole world under any kind of thraldom- be it denial of education opportunity, sexual slavery or even back breaking drudgery for a miserly wage. To be sure, putting her on show in Nigeria would go a long way to teach courage, determination and a sense of purpose to our young ones, particularly now that most of them are sold on tinsel in the form of meaningless music and sundry pursuits of vanity and dross.
Yet deserving as her visit to Nigeria was, there is a nagging ring of irony about it.  The parallel being drawn between her and the Chibok girls is only valid insofar as she was also once imperilled by a terrible adversity- the near fatal attempt on her life. Malala’s condition now is vastly different and I dare say much happier than those of the Chibok girls presently. The one, having overcome and survived the death dealing blow of bullet to the head, made possible by restorative agents, is able and free to move about wherever she pleases, hence her visit to Nigeria; the other -the Chibok girls- are still in captivity, hostage to violent tendencies and those who would rather exclude all other worldviews except their own alone at the pain of death.
This fact is being underscored to remind those who invited Malala not only to bask in the glory of her life, but to redouble effort at bringing back the Chibok girls from wherever they are. Freeing the Chibok girls and restoring them to their normal way of existence where they can pursue whatever their hearts’ desire would be a more fitting homage to Malala and all she stands for. Until that happens, Malala would seem to those still hoping and expecting their children and wards to come home, nothing more than a fresh face comely lady who got lucky because those responsible for her moved quickly to restore her to health after being shot. Nigerians await and expect no less in the Chibok girls’ hapless case.             
 
 
From the mail bag
Sir, I read your Sunday column -Winners and Losers-about the Super Eagles and the last election in Ekiti State (07/06/2014).  According to you Governor Kayode Fayemi did very well in terms of infrastructural development yet he was defeated because he could not give the voters bags of rice. I am made to understand that Ekiti State is the most educationally advanced state in Nigeria. The outcome of the whole election was unfortunate! Your write-up was food for thought.
Dahiru Adamu     (400 level Sociology), University of Abuja-08163463573
 
The piece on Fayemi and Fayose was interesting (07/06/2014). Students of foodism know that food is one of the weapons capitalists use to hamper a revolution. Keep the people hungry and they will forget about politics. Give them a little food and behold a marionette! It is only social democracy that can help the people to grow in body and soul.
Amos  Ejimonye,                  07085284103
 
I follow your occasional humorous dialogue with your imaginary friend, Mutum and the one in Winners and Losers of (07/06/2014) was interesting as usual. The only problem with it is that the two of you seem to think that Kayode Fayemi should have won, impliedly because he is more educated and more polished.  The problem is while those qualities may be important and valuable for governing well, they cannot replace being politically savvy, and knowing how to cajole, entice and even bribe- yes bribe, the voters to vote for you.
Kayode Fayemi lost in a free and fair election and no amount of hand -wringing, hair splitting and teeth gnashing in regret would deny that fact. Compared with Fayemi, Fayose is uncouth and may not have even read as many books as Fayemi has, still he taught his opponent a lesson or two in the art of election winning, namely cynically giving the voters what they expect from you.
Dehinde  Balogun