SIX MONTHS AFTER: Mr President Sir, WHERE ARE THE CHIBOK GIRLS?

If I were given the opportunity today to present a gift to the next generation, I will give them the ability to never remain silent in an unjust society. The dirts that we are throwing at ourselves today, the circle and theory of the rich remaining richer while the poor remains poorer, the unpalatable and anti-peoples policies that our legislators churn out, the growing level of a jobless (unconnected) young people and the falling apart of not just our national values but also our identity as a people, are all as a result of our very own negligence. Mahatma Ghandi of India once said that “Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when a government becomes lawless and corrupt”. The government of Nigeria didn’t just ascend to that threshold of lawlessness and corruption, but have also lost its sense of empathy and sympathy with our national ideals, thrown out to the nearest available trashcan that reside in the corridors of power.

Today made it exactly SIX MONTHS (183 DAYS) since the 219 (out of the 276) girls were abducted from the Government Secondary School, Chibok, North East of Borno State, Nigeria. And today made it 168 DAYS since a handful of concerned Nigerians with a huge sense of empathy and a solid appetite for sacrifice, have been sitting out at the Unity Fountain, making sure that the issue of the Chibok girls remains at the front burners of the Nigerian government.

During milestone dates, the Bring Back Our Girls Advocacy Group hold peaceful solidarity march at strategic points within the Federal Capital City, reminding the Nigerian people and the government that the girls taken 183 days ago, are yet to be rescued and brought back to the long awaiting arms of their parents. Today being DAY183, exactly SIX MONTHS, half of a full year, since these girls were abducted, the Group marched out to have a re-engagement with President Goodluck Jonathan as a follow of their previous engagement that yielded no fruit. The re-engagement was formal as letter was sent to the President, duely acknowledge but no feedback was given, with two weeks of opportunity window left open. The Group’s point of congregation (the Unity Fountain) was occupied by government rented crowds who were heavily surrounded by mobile police officers. National Assembly entrance on the other hand was also occupied by another group of same rented crowds who wore red but were not part of the Advocacy Group. The Bring Back Our Girls Group however, beat the security operatives to their own game as they systematically converged at a different location and took a different path to the Presidential Villa only to be stopped almost at the entrance gate by a more heavily armed military and mobile police officers…twenty-six female mobile police officers with twelve armed male officers behind, held a tight hands in order to prevent them from gaining entrance to the Villa. While the blockage was on, more security men and women with guns were trooping in, as if the Bring Back Our Girls Group were terrorists group who were openly marching to go raid the Villa. It took 45 minutes before the Presidential delegations came to address the Group who while all of that was going on, conducted themselves in a proper and civil manner.

Without mincing words, I must state that the Presidential delegates with their over-zealous team of bodyguards or aides if you wish, were highly uncivil, disrespectful and abusive. In fact, they came out to fight the group as many of them showed in their utterances. In all of their speeches and responses, one thing stood out, and it was the statement of Mrs Maina who said that “…we are assuring you all, that Mr President will BEGIN NOW to DO SOMETHING about the Chibok girls issue”. That statement simply vindicated Nigerians who had before now believed that there were NO RESCUE OPERATION going on. What a shame?!

In the past, I used to think that most men and women who got to the top were those who did the jobs they had in hand, with everything they had of energy and enthusiasm and hard work. But what I saw today, are men and women who because they don’t want to lose their jobs, a job they lack the truism and diligence to operate, deny themselves the truth that stairs them in the face.

Nigerians must note today, that this battle of redefining Nigeria, of security solidity, of bringing equity, transparency, accountability and justice, isn’t a battle that should be left for the Bring Back Our Girls Advocacy Group alone. If Nigeria must be the child of your dream, the product of your very own identity, and the materialization of your inventive genious, then you all must rise up, live up to the true meaning of your creed and come out to demand for that change NOW, otherwise, you will continue to kiss your future and your generation, a goodbye.

My simple question on this six months that the Chibok girls have remained in captivity is this, Mr President Sir, WHERE ARE THE CHIBOK GIRLS?