USA Africa Dialogue Series - The South, The North and the 300 Missing Girls . . .

The South, The North and the 300 Missing Girls

 

Michael O. Afolayan

USA

 

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Socialist;

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Trade Unionist;

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Jew;

Then they came for me—

And there was no one left to speak for me.

 

The above words of Martin Niemoller hit me like a rock when I was in London, England a few weeks ago. I tiredly sat in the front seat of a rented van when a friend slotted a tape into the vehicle's player. I listened as a man was railing high-pitch condemnations on Nigerian Christians, south of the Niger, describing them as wicked, selfish, uncaring, unchristian, unethical, etc. I was upset and told the friend I did not want to hear the tape, that it was too negative for m liking. He cautioned me to please listen, reminding me that he too was, after all, an active Christian from the region south of the Niger. He warned that those words of the speaker were worth being heard. I forced myself to listen, and was glad I did because by the time I was done listening, I was, myself, looking for loose rocks to throw at any Nigerian Christian at sight if only I could confirm they were from south of the Niger River.

 

Here is the summary of the speech: Boko Haram has inflicted, and continues to inflict, mayhem on people, especially Christians in the northern part of Nigeria - killing, maiming, abducting, forcing "conversions" and occupying their territories. I believe they have also killed some Muslims, which is equally unconscionable. On April 14, 2014, this band of sadistic and brutish reprobates went into a boarding school to abduct almost 300 girls, and they have since then freely paraded the streets at will, kidnapping more and bragging about it. It is exasperating – pure and simple!

 

My frustration shifted from the Boko Haram operatives when I heard about the attitudes of Christians from the southern sector, who have been following the Yoruba ethnocentric aphorism that, after all, "Gambari pa Fulani o l'ejo n'nu;" (A Hausa man killing a Fulani man is no big deal; it's an in-house brawl; it's their problem, not ours), or "Ko si n to kan Olorun ninu ejo san aaya; eran l'o bu eran je" (It's none of God's business if a snake bites a monkey; it's just a scuffle of the beasts). What an abominable and abhorring attitude! If what I heard on that tape has any modicum of truth to it, I would like to say to the Christians in the southern part of Nigeria, "Mark my words, it's just a warm up; they are coming after you, and you will have no one to run to for your rescue. Brace for the impact!" It is my ardent prayer that it does not come to that point.

 

It is highly lamenting that Nigeria has had the audacity to plan, cancel, and reschedule an election in the face of an embarrassment of an unimaginable magnitude. The politicians are all over the airwaves eliciting votes and yet none has had the audacity to at least mention his or her own vision to pull out these girls from the metaphoric and literal dungeon of life in which their abductors had locked them, and for which their nation had abandoned them! Manifestoes are competing with manifestoes about how each politician would fight corruptions in the country. Yet, those "anti-corruption crusaders" are doling out money to buy votes – anywhere and everywhere but no credible plans to beat Boko Haram to submission. Preachers are doing their own businesses of "praying for the lost girls," and passing the offering bowls to earn their livelihoods.  Intellectuals are busy addressing issues of development, education, fiscal responsibilities, sustainability, capacity building, and everything else that contradicts the simple principle of social responsibility – addressing the existential problem of Nigeria becoming the laughing stock of the world by its inability to rescue 300 school girls hauled away from their dorms, while in a "gated" boarding school! Everyone goes about their daily chores, leaving the girls footsore and weary in their lone and hellish voyage of life.

 

I am in awe of a nation like Jordan, a fraction of Nigeria in population (less than the population of Lagos), which did not wait the second day, and did not beg other countries for support when its twenty-something year old pilot was brutally murdered by the big brother of Boko Haram, ISIS. Jordan pounded ISIS' positions with heavy bombardments. My country, the "giant" of Africa, is still "negotiating" with the terrorists, as the girls are being raped, sold into slavery, murdered, brain-washed, dehumanized, married off, and treated worse than the puppies of a strayed dog! Occasionally, we are given news of the Nigerian military's massacre of the Boko Haram militants with no single picture to show for it! I wish someone would take a bold step of eliminating Boko Haram the same way Obasanjo annihilated the Maitatsine cult.

 

When, then, should we expect a breakthrough? When shall we act like a giant and crush the human grasshoppers that have invaded and are invading our fields? When shall we use a fraction of our money to fight the enemies that we know? Why should the southerners think Boko Haram is the northerners' problem? When should the Christians in the south think BH is not just the problem of Christians in the north? When will Nigeria form a united front - north, south, Christian, Muslim and everything in-between, to face a common enemy? When shall we bring the girls home?

 

This inquiring mind would like to know!