FADING HOPE?

Now to serious issues apart from the distractions of a mere 4:0 dismantling of a certain German football club. What is 'doing' Nigeria now pass 'wetin' any champions league match fit solve.

I made a quick switch to channels TV after the game last night to catch the headlines of their 10pm news and lo and behold, wailing women mostly robed in black as if mourning their dead. They had come all the way from Borno state to Abuja, most likely with their own resources all in a bid to get close enough to the national assembly building to make their requests to the government of the day.

What kind of country watches mothers carry placards, weeping and rolling in the dust for what ought to be their right? They were not asking for contracts or appointments but for the powers that be to help return their daughters, 15 days after they were forcefully taken from their school while preparing for their senior school leaving certificate examinations. About 200 girls, each larger than the size of figurines have not been located since.

Senator Gemade, the erstwhile PDP chairman who as chairman in 2003 got a titanic 17 votes in the PDP primaries for nominating their presidential candidate went out to meet them. That was the year we had a compulsory 6 months break from school on account of an ASUU strike that miraculously ended after Obj was re-elected for a 2nd term in office. Those of us registered in our institutions to vote were disenfranchised that year, a tactic put into good use and perfectly executed.

Sixteen days it is already since the WAEC exams in that  Chibok school was scuttled. The same day many bodies were blown to smithereens or set ablaze in an early morning bomb attack in the early hours of a Monday morning. We have even forgotten about the girls that were said to have been whisked away from the school in Yobe where young boys were ambushed as they dreamt and cut down like antelopes as they fled.

The media outfits were soon buzzing with messages of condolence, condemnation and coverage of dignitaries visiting the scene of the blasts and making promises while a few others leaked out one pint of hemoglobin laden fluid from their cubital fossae.

The next day witnessed baffling scenes of the president gyrating at a welcome party in Kano and then joining the 100yr old Olubadan to cut his birthday cake before telling how remarkable the monarch was. The Kano show was a strong signal to the defiant insurgents..." We are not going to be distracted by the enemies of the president...". How apt?

Impoverished people who may not be able to reason effectively  would see a petroleum product tanker involved in an accident and leaking its product but would yet swarm to drain every liter of oil from such only for an explosion to occur. It happened in Rivers state on July 12, 2012 claiming over 200 lives and the sad event did not get a mention at the FEC meeting. This occurred just over a month after Flight 992 crashed in Lagos. It had a few officials of NNPC and NUC on board and earned a mention and a minute silence during the next FEC meeting. We still don't know what caused the plane to fail and go down, they said the flight data recorder and black box were damaged due to the fire and no one asked any questions. The conspiracies and rumour regarding events preceding that day in June have simply vanished into thin air.
The FEC meeting for today has been cancelled due to the tragic passing of the younger brother of the vice-president.

Hundreds were killed by a bomb blast and  attending  the birthday bash of an old Oba was deemed as  an important executive function while young girls were taken further away from home and school. Is it until these mothers resort to moving around bare chested to press home their demands before they are taken seriously?

I learnt the attack on the DSS may have been stage managed and many roads leading to key structures in Abuja have been blocked off (I wouldn't know) for added security. AIT news did a report of the traffic situation in and around Abuja following the security challenges as well as the state of the roads to and from areas outside the city proper. It was sad to see deplorable roads except the kubwa road and the reporter pointed out that the contracts for those roads are awarded every year without any progress being made. Is Nigeria only meant for the few privileged and their cohorts that live in Asokoro, Maitama and Wuse?

Participants for the coming World Economic summit scheduled to take place in Abuja have been assured of flawless security. The same security that failed to checkmate suicide bombers would surely be ready for the grand event, the threats of bombings and kidnappings are just mere distractions and the handiwork of disgruntled elements that are hell-bent on making the country ungovernable for the president.
 
Airlines, mobile network suppliers, the police force, lecturers, hospital administrators, public utilities etc. have been trampling upon Nigerians for decades now with no one to rescue them. Nigerians have been trampling upon Nigerians without any hope for justice. The same Nigerians that trample on others only care about themselves, family members and friends with common interest whether local or international.
 I remember attending to a male patient past midnight who had several facial lacerations following a vehicular road traffic accident sometime in 2007/ 2008 when I worked in Abuja. He was the driver of a vehicle that was conveying American expatriates to the airport that night. One American had died from his injuries; a second who was seriously injured was taken in for emergency surgery while the third and least injured was isolated just opposite the area where I was working. Two individuals strolled in behind me and quickly spoke to the injured American before taking their exits. It took me a few minutes later to realize that the men that had just departed were the retired Generals, Tunde Ogbeha and David Mark, I confirmed from the male nurse working that night with me as if I needed any convincing. They were familiar with the expatriates and had come to visit which I had no problem with. I was rather disappointed that they did not deem it fit to check on the Nigerian driver involved, even if it was just a word of assurance.

Nigerians are degraded in their own land, perpetually dwelling in servitude to more privileged Nigerians and any fellow with lighter skin tone able to pose like an expatriate. Nigerians work under inhumane conditions that prisoners in other climes would find deplorable. Nigerians are robbed, defrauded and hacked down without any hope for justice. Nigerians are kidnapped, murdered for ritual purposes, raped and shot by drunk policemen who end up getting redeployed to settle the issues. Nigerians get arrested by other Nigerians for any and every flimsy reason, banks fold up and saved monies vanish and nobody does a thing.

An Air France plane was hijacked on the 27th of July 1976 and forced to land at Entebbe, Uganda. 106 Israeli citizens were held hostage with the backing of the tyrant Idi-Amin while other passengers were allowed to depart. It took less than 7 days to plan a rescue and on the 4th of July, approximately 100 Israeli soldiers landed in Entebbe and overran the terrorist hijackers and Ugandan forces in less than 60 minutes rescuing 102 Israelis alive with 3 hostages caught in the crossfire and the commander of the assault dead. The Israeli government in 2011 exchanged one soldier, Gilad Shalit for hundreds of Palestinian captives. He had been captured since 2006 and was 25yrs old when eventually released.

These are the lengths responsible governments would go to rescue their citizens irrespective of whether they are related to individuals in government or not. The celebrated cases of the recoveries of the kidnapped mother of Minister of Finance Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the allegedly kidnapped son of the president’s ‘godfather’, Edwin Clark and a few other high profile individuals related to powerful people are by and large the major successful cases by our security agencies. Nigerians generally have to provide their own power, water and security.

A cruise ship was sinking gradually off the coast of South Korea with numerous students on a field trip on board. The captain delayed the evacuation and it was too late, many perished but he did survive. He was soon arrested for prosecution while the prime minister resigned a few days ago, apologizing profusely for the delay in launching a rescue mission and for the lives needlessly lost.

The Nigeria immigration service organized a small event the other Saturday that led to 'just' a few deaths. The minister of interior Moro, is currently under the radar and may just aim for a political post in the coming regime. This clearly shows the difference between how two nations value the lives of their respective citizens. If demanding for better treatment and justice equates playing politics with fragile and combustible national issues, then we should continue to play such politics until the status quo is altered for the best.

Many suggest it is impossible for our contraption to succeed due to our many incompatibilities. They forget that the numerous tribes and tongue we have today evolved over centuries. Wars, trade zones and nomadic farming may have contributed to significant migration over the years. My father told me that his grandmother was so light skinned and may have originated from some area distant from where I now call my home town. If traders could relate with cowries and by barter in times past, why can’t the nations within our Nigeria run and be part of a country as long as there is equity and fairness on the table?

Nigerians, Arise for Righteousness, Justice and Equity. Let’s resist evil and drown the voice of corruption. Recovering those girls would be the loudest message to insurgents and terrorists; they should move heaven and earth to achieve that.  We shall arise like a phoenix out of this charred union called Nigeria. God help us.

jide akeju
30/04/2014