Thoughts on the Chibok schoolgirls

A day after the seizure, President Goodluck Jonathan and his party machinery moved to Kano to receive a comatose politician and rain insults on Nigerians and members of the opposition, capping up the rally with singing and dancing, televised live.The crux of this piece is not about the abduction of the schoolgirls but the manner […]

A day after the seizure, President Goodluck Jonathan and his party machinery moved to Kano to receive a comatose politician and rain insults on Nigerians and members of the opposition, capping up the rally with singing and dancing, televised live.
The crux of this piece is not about the abduction of the schoolgirls but the manner in which helpless citizens remain traumatized without hope of succor. Those who are supposed to keep us abreast with the situation seem unconcerned and business all over federal corridors continues as usual. I hear that in the next few days, Patience Jonathan, the wife of the president, will be honored for her concern on women and children by a university in the United States.
In the last two months, a Malaysian airliner got missing with over two hundred passengers on board. We watched how the Malaysian government and airline company as well as all other stakeholders kept the relations of the victims and the world at large informed. Information kept coming by the minute, even after it was concluded that the aircraft had crashed.
Again, just over a week ago, a ferry capsized with over two hundred students in South Korea and we all could see what the Korean authorities are doing to keep the families of those affected. To cap it up, the Prime Minister who was elected not too long ago, has accepted responsibility for the tragedy and resigned.
These two cases, in my view, speak volumes about government and responsibility. The Chibok case stands a disgrace at home and in the international arena. I cannot remember hearing the president talk to the parents, relations or people of Borno State, or Nigerians on the matter. The meaning is simple: The government is irresponsible.
Does it make any sense for anybody to imagine that this is possible in a country where there is government? I don’t think so. Again, this adds credence to those who come up with conspiracy theories on the entire insurgency in the North-East. It makes sense to argue that the federal state, which controls the security apparatuses of the nation, is either culpable by way of its inability to stop the mess or is in fact part and parcel of the execution of these crimes against humanity.
Can anybody fault Admiral Murtala Nyako for his letter to Northern governors? I am of the view that anyone who shamelessly stands in for this government on this matter is guiltier, because the abracadabra that is going on is not just confusing but clearly breaking the pillars that have kept the Nigerian state in relatively fair shape.
The question is: Who is really benefiting from this nonsense? I have not heard anything yet on these girls from the PDP’s very ill-informed publicity secretary, Olise Metuh, who is fond of trivializing very sensitive security issues in the name of politics. No wonder he is in the same group with Mr. Wike, who threatened to sack all university lecturers, but was made to swallow his own vomit.
Has anybody in this government, in Abuja, ever thought of how parents and relations of the Chibok schoolgirls are feeling? Why is the dominant press from Lagos and Ibadan merely reporting the issue without the necessary pressure that occasions their coverage whenever they are agitated? Why are Nigerians so myopic to the extent that we don’t care a bit about what is happening to the other person? When the bombs were detonated in Nyanya a few weeks ago, the next day the entire newspapers in Nigeria covered it, but such are usual occurrences in the North-East.
A few weeks ago, ‘unknown gunmen’ sacked some villages in Katsina State and in the end, scores of people were indiscriminately killed. The reportage was disappointing. Few days later, gunmen who equally are said to be ‘unknown’ moved to Kaura village in Kaduna at night and killed over a hundred people. The responses from the press and government in Abuja represented what we used to hearing: ‘We’re on top of the situation’. Then next it was Zamfara, where over a hundred were killed. Apart from these, there were also several other cases in Benue, Taraba and Nassarawa states.
My take on this, as always, is when you remain quiet when your neighbor is being attacked, when you’re being attacked no-one will stand up and help you. The Jonathan administration is the worst disaster that has afflicted Nigeria since 1914. There has never been any government that has brought the country to its knees like this one is. How can the government remain quiet while our daughters are in captivity? I believe this government has failed. In any democracy, representatives in government are measured in terms of their ability to bring forth new realities, impact positively on the lives of the citizenry and address the challenges of life through reconciliation of interests and not just placing importance on resource allocation.
The Chibok schoolgirls must be rescued and compensation paid by the government for its recklessness. This insurgency must be brought to an end. Government must show concern. Nigerians from all parts of the country must unite in facing this crisis.