TO SAMBISA, WITH LOVE

Ladies and gentlemen

About eigth weeks ago, almost three hundred helpless students were forcefully taken by the insurgent terrorist group, Boko Haram, in a wicked attempt to force the federal government to listen to their warped sense of opinion. These students, all girls, were kidnapped from their school, a federal government college, in Chibok, a village in the North-Eastern part of Nigeria. 

Even after the escape of about seventy-five of those students, over two hundred  of them are still in captivity. And given the inefficiency of our government and it's security agencies, the fate of these hapless, innocent victims of national failure remains embedded in our consciousness: at best, wishing for a safe rescue and return to their troubled families.

At no time have the different segments of this nation being united with a single voice and a concerted effort to condemn this inhuman act of savagery by a group blinded by religious acrimony, ethnic animosity, national insensitiveness, and unpatriotic values, aimed at achieving the selfish ambitions of some disgruntled power-brokers on our national landscape.

The #bringbackourgirls campaign is an evidence and a testimony that the nation in particular, and the world in general, condemns the kidnap, and continued hostage of these students whose only fault was staying in school to write their final school examinations even when the region was embroiled in chaos and crisis that was tearing the already fragmented national unity apart. This act of bravery on the part of these girls could not even be matched by our much touted security agencies, due to national inefficiency, corruption, and ineptitude.

The condition of these girls cannot be ascertained, but imagined as very negative. Given the depraved rantings of the the Boko-Haram leader, the girls have either been sold into slavery, or subjected to inhuman treatment where they are forced to renounce their faith and live as girl-brides, not to mention being exposed to various sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs), physical abuse, and psychological trauma caused by fear of the unknown and continued limitation to move freely.

It breaks the heart, therefore, when the news broke out that these future mothers and potential leaders are being kept in the  Sambisa forest, a thick, vast expanse of flora, deep into the far northeastern jungle of Nigeria. It breaks the heart that our fellow citizens are kept as captives in their own country, while those responsible for rescuing them initially denied the situation, and later traded blames among themselves, while the victims lose their hope of freedom.

It breaks the heart that, instead of rising up to the occasion with vigour and national consciousness, our leaders keep themselves busy washing their linens in public, defecting from one big, gradually fading away party to another consolidated but equally unscrupulous party, and the lawmakers find solace in 'talking the talk' instead of 'walking the talk'.

It also breaks the heart, that while leaders of other countries are awarded the prestigious Nobel prizes for excellent achievements, Nigerian leaders are crude, lack public speaking etiquette, and are only proficient in putting on shows to mask their inaccuracies. Our leaders have more chance of winning a nomination for the Oscars than the Nobel prize.

It breaks the heart that the Chibok girls' memories are gradually fading away from our national consciousness. Even after several weeks, Nigerian leaders still don't know what to do about the menace called Boko Haram while the group goes about destroying innocent lives, property and social structures with wanton carelessness and defiance of a toothless bulldog, personified by the Nigerian governmental structure.

My heart goes out to these girls in Sambisa forest. I am sure that help will reach out to them sooner than expected. These girls are our sisters, cousins, nieces, aunts, daughters, and granddaughters!

We love you and we are praying for you! We are sure that Sambisa will not be your last abode. We are sure you will be returned back to the loving arms of your parents and the expectant nation in good condition.

We are sure you will be back, soon.