Real parents wouldn’t bother that Chibok is a Christian community (or otherwise) if our kids were involved.
If one sells a member of one's household cheap, one will not be able to buy him back at a great value. If one does not throw a toad into hot water, and then throw it into cold water, it does not know which is better.
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Nigeria is certainly a strange nation, especially if you see it within the context of a nation. It has strange people, strange personae, from the best to the worst, a friend said we are the “bestest and worstest”.
Before I go far on the above ranting, it is DAY 41 and I honestly did not think I would be writing and sharing thoughts on the Chibok girls or that we did be still talking #bringbackourgirls.
But here we are still on the matter, everyday revealing our shame in public…and I see the depth of our emotions everyday.
And who are we: we are the Asaris who believe that no child is missing; we are the “chai, there is ‘god’ people”. We are same people who ask whether the principal “waka come or waka go”.
Some of us, have asked Shettima to #bringbackourgirls, others have lampooned Jonathan for not bringing back our girls, we have blamed the army, soldiers have blamed their superiors and for the first time in ages the word mutiny is sounding like cattle rustlers, phrases that sneak in, and we hardly notice.
Where is Augustine Aminu, is Aminu a Christian or is Augustine a Muslim, so did Muslims target the Jos bomb blast at Christians, or the nearly deadly attack at a viewing center not successful because it was in a Muslim dominated area?
Indeed what is wrong with us, how is it that one of the interesting reads of the news week was the witch bird, ala old woman that landed in Ajegunle on her way to Ibadan after her ‘winchy’ activities.
If witches miss their way, then don’t blame the army that miss their way too, if the Americans are the real deal, tell us why they are only in Chad and Niger, instead of waving the magic wand and prompt our daughters would appear.
Why does everything be politics, 2015, and twenty everything, just the sale of “there is god” sweatshirts, downloads of several versions of the clip ‘chia’ is costing data. I counted the last time, 11 singles by various artistes with the theme #bringbackourgirls, and I was privy to a roforofo fight of a group of protesters for their pay after PROTESTING, the same way Asari’s group smiling to the bank because no girl was abducted.
We have dissected the falsehood in the video produced by Shekau and co., which only continues to get to AP, BBC, and VOA, but never gets near NTA.
Critics, activists that we are, only makes us so inefficient that simple things look complex, too many PhDs that pull foolishness aggregately, making it sound wise—For example, army locates three camps where girls are—so after the location what next? I guess Boko Haram is deaf, blind and dumb…they can post youtube messages but cannot read all that and we really expect them to still be there, waiting!
Okay it is a decoy, but really who is fooling who, in the last 40 DAYS, the United State has visited, Jonathan has approved for help, amnesty International has revealed that soldiers knew, soldiers ran, in more than four weeks, Shettima has gone a London, speaking with CNN, we have had meetings in Congo, Paris and Protests even in neighboring Sudan.
For all we are only ranting, waiting painfully for this to become like the ‘other’ Nigerian events that we consign to history, missing plane, missing ship, missing government money, ghost workers, ghost schools, graduates, and ghost budgets.
Real parents wouldn’t bother that Chibok is Christian community or otherwise if our kids were involved, would CAN, its Muslim counterpart JNI, JIBWIS and co bother about the girls’ name if the Sultan’s daughter or Ayo’s grandson was victim?
I have seen first hand the premium Americans place on just their flag, and how valuable the American Kid is valued, even the mere paper called US Visa is gold in many parts. So therefor if we were looking for one American would the Sambisa forest be a mystery, would Obama, Michelle and Gov. of Timbuktu being arguing on the number of American girls?
Let me end, with the episode commonly referred to in Persian as تسخیر لانه جاسوسی امریکا (literally "Conquest of the American Spy Den,"), it was a diplomatic crisis between Iran and the United States. Fifty-two American diplomats and citizens were held hostage for 444 days (November 4, 1979, to January 20, 1981), after a group of Iranian students, belonging to the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, who were supporting the Iranian Revolution took over the US Embassy in Tehran.
President Jimmy Carter called the hostages "victims of terrorism and anarchy," adding that "the United States will not yield to blackmail."
The crisis was described by the western media as an entanglement of "vengeance and mutual incomprehension." Like #bringbackourgirls have been described by all sorts of phrases and catches.
I will spare us the details, the politics and ostrich diplomacy of that era and all that was involved, however the episode reached a climax when, after failed attempts to negotiate a release, the United States military attempted a rescue operation off ships such as the USS Nimitz and USS Coral Sea that were patrolling the waters near Iran. On April 24, 1980, Operation Eagle Claw resulted in a failed mission, the deaths of eight American servicemen, one Iranian civilian, and the destruction of two aircraft.
On July 27, 1980, the former Shah died; then, in September, Iraq invaded Iran. These two events led the Iranian government to enter negotiations with the U.S., with Algeria acting as a mediator. The hostages were formally released into United States custody the day after the signing of the Algiers Accords.
I am not TB Joshua, nor some hocus pocus analyst, but hopefully in the words of Mike Omeri, the Co-ordinator, National Information Centre, the efforts of officers and men of Nigeria’s defence forces as well as the police and the Department of State Service, DSS, were yielding positive result.
Omeri, who doubles as the Director-General of the National Orientation Agency, NOA, said, “By God’s grace, we are looking at a matter of days”.
“The support we are also receiving from our foreign partners has upped the tempo and we are confident that soon, very soon, the parents would have their children back and, by God’s grace, in safe and sound health. We are closing-in on them”.
I end with one question, just one question to all sides of the divide, whether APC, PDP, or even the Shekau led sickmen…If your child was missing for a day, what would you do, how would you feel, how soon can be very soon—soon enough that by next week #bringbackourgirls would be #thankyoujonathan—only time will tell.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of SaharaReporters
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