When the First Lady Cried

The news of the Chibok girls kidnap got to the heart of every reasonable person in the country and beyond. Many wondered why, many imagined the trauma those girls must be going through in the hands of those rootless captors while others threw missiles at the government for its cluelessness on the Boko Haram issue. 

Many have been lost to this aimless massacre of defenseless citizens of the country by the dreaded Boko Haram sect who have in the recent time brought down terror on the heart of the nation. It has not been made known the true image of this sect but the obvious is that people are continually dying in their numbers everyday and our government is crying.

Nigeria, the most populous black country in the world should possess the finest and largest man power and resource in Africa needed to fight a few that decided to take away its peace and rest of mind but as it stands, that maybe a mere illusion because those at the top loves politics more than human lives that is why Boko Haram has been politicized and solution to it, still in oblivion.

When the Chibok girls got missing a few days ago and the entire military machinery in Borno and its environ combined with the special forces sent to execute the state of emergency in the states could not find a way to beat the tricks of the sect and rescue the girls, people looked up to the government for solutions, but all they could do was “cry”. Where then will our help come from? Is Nigeria not a sovereign country that has the capability to defend its territorial integrity and protect its citizens anymore? Is Nigeria no longer the African big brother that moves out of its way to salvage its little ones anymore? If it is, then what is happening or are we condemned as a country to solve other countries problems and die in our own? Why then did the first lady cry?

When the first lady cried, I remembered my old grand-mother in the village, how she would step out of her way and shade us from dangers when they come around. She does not sit back and cry because my mother didn’t come to help her fight the dangers that came. She knew it was her responsibility at that moment to fight the danger. Then I asked myself, if all she could do was cry, then what will all those helpless mothers who do not know the kind of fate that have befallen their daughters in the Sambisa forest if that is where they are? If our first lady cry’s, then where do we run to. Some said yes, she is human after all. That is true, she is human and should show emotions sometimes, but was that all she could do, have the government no more ideas in their bags of reasoning or do the Boko Haram have more tricks in their bags than the government do.

When the first lady cried, I wondered why the girls were kidnapped, when she cried again, I wondered why it was tears alone that she could offer, on a second thought, I wondered if the government of president Goodluck Jonathan has ran out of ideas on how to tackle this insurgency.

When I saw her teary face, I imagined what will be going through the minds of the parents and relations of these missing girls, when that scene appeared, I seriously wondered where the future lies. Was that a strategy? Was that a sign of weakness, a sign of giving up or a sign of renewed vigor, reasonable strength and strategic anger which are the ingredients needed to end this unreasonable killings and kidnappings. 

When the first lady cried, I reasoned that anybody who has no ideas on how to salvage this complex society called Nigeria should stay away from dreaming about Aso rock because for Nigerians, the killing is enough, this kidnapping is one too many and a stop must be put to it by the instituted authority because that is why they were elected to be there in the first place.