USA Africa Dialogue Series - Three Years in Bondage

The sustained and unrelenting activism on behalf of the Chibok girls unceasingly heartens me to no end, heartens me greatly. Because in it I see a glimpse of hope for this country, that we still have a modicum sense of shared humanity, and a modicum sense of selfless service in pursuit of non-pecuniary objectives. I salute the women and men of the BringBackOurGirls movement - of which I am one - as I believe I do not need to be in Abuja or Lagos to be a part of the movement and consistently express support for its objectives as spelt out by Prof Jubrin. I salute those who have daily sacrificed their lives to keep this issue on the national and global agenda; every major world newspaper and media outlet I know ran a three year anniversary feature yesterday or the day before. All this is due to the tremendous hard work that some persons invested in the project.

As an ordinary Nigerian, I will never forget exactly where I was and what is was doing the day I heard the news of the abduction. It was extremely distressing news, for those of us who refuse to be inured to the daly report of Boko Haram casualties. Though I had and have no special sympathies for President Buhari and his party, the APC, in my mind, approaching the 2015 elections, there was no way I could bear President Jonathan returning to office for another four years. My reason was entirely singular: his treatment of the Chibok girls episode left me without a doubt that the man was unfit to run a family much less a nation, is wicked and had lost all the milk of human kindness needed to be a leader in the true sense of the term. Indeed, posterity has judged that administration on the matter and we, the children and women of Nigeria will never forget, never forget that for three whole weeks, Mr Jonathan refused to accept that almost 300 girls had been taken, refused to even investigate, and publicly derided the story in his media chat of that fateful month of April in 2014. Those three weeks made all the difference for those young ladies. And so has it been for all the other victims of the insurgency: politics, self-interest and a devilish insensitivity was that adminisration's entire attitude on every issue. May those culprits in that terrible government never have a moment's peace till the issue is resolved, just as the parents of the girls and the BBOG never rest, day and night. May BBOG's tears turn to laughter one dear day soon. Amin.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.