Ese Oruru And Nigeria’s Activism Enterprise -By Eseoghene Al-Faruq Ohwojeheri

Like it or hate it as I do, the fact remains that activism is dead as a passion and alive and well as a business. The reason solution comes to a problem when it goes public in today’s world is because those who could help will not help except an issue is made into a movie for public spectacle and in such cases helping will add to a certain CV.

When the Ese Oruru’s case broke, Madam Oby Ezekwesilli picked up her phone and was calling Sanusi Lamido and twitting what he said, Ben Murray Bruce started making common sense about it, Punch went to town with sensational “Kano man” abducts “Bayelsa girl”, and of course, there was the new cool “I will not rest until Ese is returned home” all over twitter and facebook; every Nigerian became selfless, concerned and caring. You have to wonder who killed those 4 innocent boys in ALUU over a mere accusation of stealing.

In 2013, we watched the horror of everyday Nigerians murdering a little boy, Samuel, who was just 12. They kicked him, beat him, dragged him on the floor, put a tyre to his neck as he begged, added fuel and set the little boy on fire. Before they killed him they interviewed the little boy, confirmed his age, heard how he had no home, watched him cry for help and swore by God that he was innocent of the charge of stealing 50 naira, beat him even more while he cried “Oh my God, my God why” when he realized he was hopeless, amidst cheers and boasting and laughs from men, women, girls and boys, these Nigerians set 12 years old Samuel on fire and continued to beat him with a stick. These category of Nigerians who murder people for as little as an accusation of stealing maggi in the market are all over twitter and facebook lying to the world about how they will not sleep until Ese Oruru returns home. This is because our kindness is scripted for profit, devoid of sincerity, and conditioned on bigotry. I will explain one after the other.

Today the world notes Ese Oruru as a young lady who ran away with a man and got pregnant. Yunusa Dahiru’s name will soon be forgotten, he will be dismissed as a criminal, that’s all. But Ese Oruru is already the subject of ridicule, some have compared her beauty to the beauty of women in the North, her father has told the world she possessed with demons and needs deliverance from TB Joshua, Femi Fani-Kayode, speaking from his sleep as usual, has already assured us that Ese is a victim of rape and ritual sex. Would it not have been more Ese-friendly if the same people who “helped” helped with a little less noise? Why can’t the Editors at Punch call up Oby Ezekwesilli who calls up Emir Sanusi Lamido who in turn calls up the Police and the Sharia Council to ensure Ese is returned home? This is exactly what happened except that Madam Oby had to tweet the calls, the Emir had to deny accusations coming from the publicity, and media houses had to also be relevant in the scheme of things after all papers will not sell without Ese that day. Why must it be so loud if it could be effective and quiet? More so when the young lady is the only one to put up with the ridicule, embarrassment, and spotlight at the end of the day. Even when we ask victims of clear-cut crimes to speak up despite the stigma, we don’t ask them to use a microphone while doing so and we especially don’t ask others to do so for them because they alone will bear the burden. People simply benefited from Ese’s saga and it’s unfortunate.

There is absolutely no sincerity in making a public show out of this kind of help, and there was no sincerity in how Punch went about this campaign. Apart from the public show, there were blatant lies which point to an effort in sensationalism and commercialization of a little girl’s plight. From the first story itself, there was no doubt that Yunusa and Ese had something, and the mother knew it. This fact was consciously hidden while the sensation of “Kano man” and “Bayelsa girl” was used. The mother narrates that as soon as she couldn’t see her daughter people told her “the Northerners would have hidden her”. Why? No one asked, not even the journalists at Punch. She goes ahead to say when she checked and didn’t see her daughter she sent her son to “go and ask of Yunusa”. As what? Why Yunusa? No one asked, it was enough for Punch to have discovered what will sell their papers, journalism can wait. The more of a victim Ese was, the better.  The painful thing is even that anyhow you look at it Ese was already a victim either of victimization from the parents who want to kill her for accepting Islam as she claims or of falling for Yunusa or for going to Kano with Yunusa who was not her husband, father or her brother; there was no need “padding” the victimization except for commerce or/and bigotry. This bigotry is loudest in with the lies peddled by Femi Fani-Kayode in his article where he reduced the age of a former undergraduate who is publicly known, Miss Charity Uzoechina from 25 to 13 and referred to the Emir of Kano and Sultan of Sokoto as likely paedophiles. That any responsible news media will publish this poo is still a matter of surprise for sane Nigerians, a category of people Mr. Kayode apparently does not belong to, as this is apparent from his writings to his look and demeanour.

As of now the facts that have come to light include that Ese Oruru went willingly with Yunusa Dahiru to Kano, and she claims she did this because she accepted Islam and her parents wanted to kill her. Also, we know of the fact that there was a relationship between Ese and Yunusa and the father of Yunusa opposed her movement as any father will do and took both of them to the local authorities in Kano. This authority referred it to the Emir of Kano who referred the matter to the Police and the Sharia Council to ensure Ese Oruru was returned to Bayelsa. On the date, she was to be returned she broke down crying at the police station and insisted that if she is taken back home, she will be murdered by her parents for her chosen faith. On hearing this, the Police keeps her in the custody of the local community until an investigation is concluded. In the process of this, Punch commercializes the issue, and other merchants in the business of activism discovered a profitable venture, and that is why Nigerians are on each other’s neck today cursing out each other’s region and religion. This is how the love for money and fame and clear insincerity leads to hatred and violence and at the end religion is blamed.

Stop commercialising Ese Oruru’s case and let the authorities get on the issue. There is a young lady who says she wants to be a Muslim, and she also wants to be with a young man and, according to her, her parents want to kill her for this, so she rather stays in Kano. There is the parent who says this is not correct, and they think she is being forced to say this and that her new faith is due to some hypnosis. The Government should investigate and settle the issue in the family, and if in the course of all these anyone broke the law, please prosecute in court, not on social media and pages of a newspaper. Femi Falana can’t keep “going to court” on every issue that makes the news. Let him go to court already. This is not a talk show or a season premier. A young lady’s life is at stake!