I'm one of the most positive people around, but this time, optimism eludes me. I'm starting to doubt the redemption of Nigeria. My motherland seems beyond repair. I'm an 80's baby and I can't remember any time when Nigeria wasn't in one strife or the other, always thorn between wars, poverty, corruption, vandalism, militancy/terrorism besieging and overtaking it. Back when I was a kid and a member of the Block Rosary, we always prayed for "Nigeria in Distress". In current times "Nigeria in Distress" remains a prayer point. Decades ago, I had relatives and family friends who emigrated in search of better and safer living in western countries. Today, this phenomenon still continues because at frequent junctures, the country had dealt with alarming monstrosity, internal wars and insurrections which have robbed citizens off of their sense of safety.
There's been multiple terrorist attacks in recent times that I've lost counts. Still fresh in my memory is the recent triple incidents of the April 14th bomb blast at Nyanya motor park, the abduction of teenage girls at a government secondary school in Chibok, Borno State on April, 24th and the May 1st bomb blast, also at Nyanya, all in the northern region, which currently seems to be in a state of anarchy with Boko Haram terrorists becoming so powerful and overtaking it. Quite daringly, the sect has stated their responsibility for majority of these felonies, particularly the abduction of more than 200 secondary school girls.
Pessimists on the other hand raised critical arguments disputing the genuineness of the abduction saga. They nurse doubts on the possibility of transporting off more than 200 girls in broad day light in an area under a state of emergency, the possibility of finding this number of science students only in a remote village of Borno state. They also reasoned that the claim by the group's leader, Abubakar Shekau to "market" the girls meant they were still alive, and as result should have featured somehow in his video message if indeed they had them. Their conclusions - the whole abduction scandal is a politically inspired hoax designed to further depict the incompetence of President Goodluck Jonathan to be at the helm of the country's affairs at the moment and in future.
In any case, fact remains that the president failed to take the bull by the horn. In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, Mr Wole Soyinka opined that President Goodluck's government "is not only in denial mentally, but in denial about certain obvious steps to take". From recent developments following the abduction, I think the government is rather confused. The president waited three weeks after the abduction before he gave a public address, probably because he needed to ascertain the authenticity of the incident. He had all the resources, authority and power to do just that, but after he accepted U.S. offer to help in finding the girls, it was obvious he was either confused about what to do, afraid to step on toes or both.
This ineptitude in the face of extreme anarchy on the president's part no doubt is one of the major reasons the country has greatly deteriorated in the past five years, but then our situation is also a product of our individual decisions or compliance with the wrongs which feeds the evil that is now terrorizing us. In the name of bigoted cohesion, majority of us are ready to defend and streamline despicable acts of our leaders because they are of the same ethnic, religious and social group as us. As I stated earlier, some are already trying to rationalize and excuse the enormous failure of the President Goodluck Jonathan government in tackling terrorism in the country thus far. They're bothered more about protecting his second term ambitions, even when results of his first term reign so far has been abysmal.
I was having a chat with a friend, and he cited unpatriotism as the major reason the country is crumbling. Nigerians don't care about the general well being of anyone else, provided that their ethnic group in particular are favourably placed. We lack the spirit of oneness and base the structure of our government on quota and rotational system rather than established capabilities and achievements. In that way, we form various interest groups that seek to foster the political ambitions of the ethnic groups we are members of. For instance, Boko Haram whose other agenda is that Nigeria should be governed by a Northern Muslim otherwise all hell will be let loose, like it already has.
Apparently, we are still being hunted by the forced 1914 amalgamation that saw more than 250 ethnic groups that didn't share any form of cultural, religious, dialectal similarity united as one, forced to accept the Nigerian identity by Lord Lugard and his cohorts in profiting attempt to rule successfully and easily. Therefore, till today, we are still struggling to adapt to the plan of being one Nigerian as against being Efik, Yoruba, Igbo or Hausa.
Because this condition has caused us more harm than good by way of ethnic clashes, religious conflicts and terrorism which have thwarted the advancement of our country in general, and as long as we are one Nigeria, we can try to suppress our ethnic inclinations and embrace the spirit of oneness as propagated by our exemplary heroes past.
I join in the universal campaign and demand that our beautiful sisters be freed.
Yes, #Bringbackourgirls.
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