For a general that rode to power vowing to tame the rabies called Boko Haram, Buhari has been a resounding failure, and an unmitigated disaster in the important task of ensuring the security of lives and properties of Nigerians.
I could write a lengthy treatise to convince readers of the correctness of my conclusion, but I intend to be brief, the subject matter offers scant joy about the Nigerian condition, but a very important point must be made.
When in another example of the serial failures of the Nigerian state, girls from a secondary school in Dapchi, were kidnapped by the technically defeated Boko Haram terrorists, the state in admission of its helplessness, paid the terrorists an undisclosed amount as ransom to secure the captives freedom. Leah Shuaibu is the only one of the over 100 school girls, whose names we still remember.
Leah’s name rings still, there’s a story behind her name. Leah is the silent rebuke of a failed state, and the glaring evidence of a diabolical system. At an age when she should be dreaming dreams, Leah is living in a nightmare, citizen of a land that devours its inhabitants. Read the stories that have filtered out of Dapchi, read the stories of the ones that were released. What becomes obvious is the mercantile nature of the abduction, and the sickening complicity of the security system.
Leah could not have been the only Christian in the group of over a hundred girls, in a town notable for its Christian populace, and I have been intrigued by the narratives of the legend of her refusal to recite the Shahada, and thereby convert to Islam. Such a simple act in exchange for her freedom. What is her story? What motivated her to refuse to do what several others must have done, and what I believe that I would have done gladly, were I ever found in her shoes. But Leah’s legend is not my purpose for writing this piece.
I have always believed that the Nigerian state is complicit in almost all acts of brigands in our land. From the mollycoddled thuggery that became the extreme militancy in the Niger Delta, to the Boko Haram that was tolerated and used for political ends by Bunu, until it began to bite the ones that used to feed it. You can expect to find some levels of state complicity in these troubles. But the Chibok episode had revealed a new twist to the macabre games of power played by fathers, with the skulls of their offsprings in place of ball.
The same federal government, that has always dealt with the victims of its misrule and failings, as though they were pests, found the the time to start offering hope to Leah’s parents. Buhari was said to have found time out of his frenetic schedule, to call Leah’s parents to offer reassurances that she would be coming home soon. Lying Mohammed, and the other mouthpieces of this government have ensured that Buhari’s involvement is played up in the press, the Nigerian people are being prepped for her eventual release, and Buhari is being positioned for adulation as the knight in shining armor.
I do hope that I am correct in my deductions that this government has concluded a deal with Boko Haram for Leah to be freed, but let it be noted ahead of time, Oladele shall not be joining the chorus of hosanna to St’ Bubu.
For a general that rode to power vowing to tame the rabies called Boko Haram, Buhari has been a resounding failure, and an unmitigated disaster in the important task of ensuring the security of lives and properties of Nigerians. You can argue with the facts coming out from the Benue trough and the plateau, if that floats your boat. An orchestrated and stage managed release of Leah, should make no difference to the joy of all Nigerians in general, and Leah’s parents in particular, but no one should be deceived into using such a happy occurrence as proof of the competence, of an incompetent government.
We await the triumphant return of Leah, another pawn in the games of power, played by fathers, with the children’s head, in lieu of balls. May she live in freedom, to tell her story.
DF
First Published 13 October, 2018.
The Libelous Obituaries (1)
Beyond words, the nation has failed, the government has failed his people, for how long will citizen have to live in danger and threaten in their father’s land, how many more will govt come forward to pay for their freedom, what of the ones that didn’t make it to the newsroom, the nameless ones kidnapped from their in sleep or those slaughter like animals, a lasting intervention is required, instead of treating the fruit of the problem, they should visit the root cause of the mess we’re in as a country. Nobody is safe, nowhere is safe.