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| BringBackOurGirls hash tag, heralding the release kidnapped girls |
Our daughters were taken
captive a hundred days ago. Their exam gist and girly talks was silenced by
evil menacing men who bundled and loaded them unto trucks late at night, their
destination - Zambisa Forest (but are they really
there?).
Their captors are terrorist,
Islamic extremist who preach that western education (and probably any of its
inputs) is evil and against the will of God. Their once gloriously expected
destinies now lies in the hands of Boko Haram, the Nigerian government and
pressure groups from the local and international scene.
Their cries has not gone
unnoticed, although government took days in accepting the kidnapping of over
250 girls from the Chibok Government
Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, the local scene swung into action, a “bring back our girls” campaign
was launched (#BringBackOurGirls). The hash tag campaign has since gained
attention, Prime ministers have carried it, first ladies, activist, super stars
and celebrities, school girls and boys just to name a few. Social media has
transformed how we Nigerians now speak. Today marks a hundred days of their kidnap.
A hundred days after, we can
only boast of girls escaping off by themselves, no concrete action has been
taken. Our military has not shown positive drive to bring back our girls, Chibok
community itself has been invaded over and over since the kidnap by terrorist,
the people say no one values their life.
Who should we be talking about?
who is suffering the most from all these? Is it the girls, their parents, our
government, us as a people, or even the terrorist? I ask myself, are we going
to ever see these girls again? They may have been married off, raped,
forcefully converted to Muslims or even killed, none of these options looks any
more palatable, we (the parents, friends, Nigerians and international community
and the writer too) only want to see our daughters again.
The psychological effect is disheartening;
some of the escaped girls say they don’t ever want to go back to school. More villages
has been destroyed, people in the North east, (sorry in Nigeria) now live in ‘the
fear of Boko Haram’. Nowhere is safe any longer, I wonder if the grass is truly
greener over the fence.
The harsh reality still looms,
but we want to hope, yes hope against all hope. Our government is not giving
hope, Boko Haram now dictates to us what we must do if we are ever to see our
girls (sisters, friends, future brides, mothers and whatever destiny ever had
in wait for them) again.
Malala’s recently visit helped
shake things up, does this mean our own plea means nothing? Well, it’s no
longer about who pleads; we just want our girls alive and back. Please bring
back our girls, let us rejoice again, let smiles fill our faces –for the
parents and families especially. Let us believe, let us have hope again in our
government, in our collective voice, in our democracy and our God (whichever God you
believe).
Federal
government, International community, Nigerians and the families, let us pray,
let us hope, let us do what we can humanly do and let us keep watch because if
there is a God, and there truly is one – he sleeps not over this matter. Our
girls shall return one day, yes they shall come to us albeit with testimonies
and stories of how they were saved.
Let us continue to mount pressure on Government (in a civilized manner) and then continue to keep hope alive -
#BringBackOurGirls.
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