Hmmm… it’s one year and some days now
since the Chibok girls have been missing. Yet, the days are still
counting because we have no clue about their whereabouts. This is a very
sad development indeed. No doubt, it was a disappointment that the
outgoing government failed to locate and rescue the girls from the hands
of their Boko Haram abductors.
As a mother, who knows what the pains of
child labour and child upbringing are all about, I heaved a sigh of
relief when Muhammadu Buhari emerged winner of the presidential
election. It was not because I like him more than Jonathan, but because I
listened to one of his campaigns, where he promised to bring back the
girls if elected into office. Perhaps, Nigerians elected him on that
premise.
I feel that, at least, it will be a
great achievement for whoever locates and brings back the girls to their
respective families. In fact, whoever achieves that will be celebrated
as a hero all over the world. But then, I have seen another reason to
believe that all politicians are the same.
Their modus operandi may only be
different. A few days ago, exactly when it clocked one year that the
girls had been missing, Buhari broke my heart, just like that of other
Nigerians when he said his government could not promise to bring back
the girls! I felt really devastated because that comment was a sharp
contrast to the promises he made to all Nigerians and the world at large
during his campaigns.
Honestly, I try not to be disappointed
because you can always expect anything from Nigerians, politicians in
particular. They can promise heaven on earth during campaigns, but the
moment they get to power, they promptly renege on their promises. Such
is life in this part of the world where we find ourselves.
I tried to put myself in the shoes of
the parents, relatives and neighbours of the missing girls, who,
perhaps, solicited votes for the retired General after hearing his
campaign promise that he would bring back the girls. How will they feel
now hearing him say something to the contrary?
There is an adage in Yoruba that says
‘omo eni ku san ju omo eni sonu lo,’ meaning that it is better for
someone’s child to die than to be missing. I can imagine the different
thoughts and imaginations that would have saddled the minds of those
girls’ parents. If the girls are dead (which I don’t pray for anyway),
the parents will mourn for sometime and recover, but that they are
missing is another experience entirely.
More worrisome is the fact that the
parents have to nurture the wound till this moment, and not even with
any hope of sort in sight. Wahala dey o! Come to think of it, where are
those prophets, Imams and native doctors who claim to have all the
powers in the world? Where are those native doctors we watch on Africa
Magic who can disappear and appear to make things happen? Or they only
exist on Africa Magic? Where are the prophets and Imams who always claim
to us that they communicate directly with God?
Are they all sleeping or they have just
been deceiving people all along? In a country like Nigeria where people
believe so much in spiritual powers, I expect someone to have used same
power to rescue the girls, if they truly exist. I have been thinking
aloud on this issue for a long time.
Can’t the association of witches and
wizards also do something about it with their powers? After all, Oyinbo
men have witches and wizards to, but they use their own powers
positively. Some of the results of it are the aeroplanes, computers and
other things we call technology. But black men use their own witch and
wizard powers to destroy fellow humans. They can be here in Nigeria and
use spiritual powers to ‘control’ someone in faraway Australia, but they
cannot ‘control’ ordinary Boko Haram here to release our precious
girls. This is just my imagination.
Those spiritual powers may not be true
anyway; perhaps we have such a mentality about them because of the
movies we watch. But in every nonsense, there can be some iota of sense.
I’m just thinking aloud with my ‘jargons,’ but I’m sure there are
lessons we can learn from it. See you next week.
Helen Paul is a renowned Nigerian comedienne and TV host
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