#ChibokGirls: 2004 days in Captivity
Imagine the phone ringing in the dead of the night. Imagine picking up the phone and hearing the frightened voice of your daughter telling you that they have come. Imagine asking her who have come? Then again imagine your daughter telling you that it is those whose names cannot be mentioned. For you, it is beyond imagination! For a #ChibokFather it is reality
! A nightmare he is yet to wake up from 2004 days today. This is the reality of a man who sent his daughter to school to get education and she ended up being abducted and spending 5 years and 6 months in captivity. The #ChibokParents die a thousand deaths thinkingabout the atrocities being meted out on their children. What is the crime of the #ChibokGirls?
Is it because they are poor? Is it because they are Nigerians or is it because they dared to be educated? How many times have we told parents to send their children to school? How many times has the Girl-child been told she should dare to dream?! She should shatter glass ceilings and she should aim for the top? The Girl-Child knows it is all a lie. She has seen her sisters who dared to dream taken away and the world simply moved on and left them in captivity for 2004 days. Actions they say speak louder than words. Withour actions, we made it clear that we would not have her back. We would not protect her and we would not stand by her in this cruel world that has made her vulnerable.
The North East region is the most educationally disadvantaged region in Nigeria and it takes a lot to get children to go to school most especially the Girl-Child and from that region 276 girls were abducted from their school on April 14 2014. 57 of them escapedimmediately and 219 were in captivity for two years until May 2016when the first girlescaped and came back home. In all 107 #ChibokGirls are back and 112 are still in captivity and of course not forgetting Leah Shaributaken from herschoolin Dapchi and AliceNgadda one of the abducted aid workers.
One of the #ChibokFathers said in 2014, “Government used to fine us for not sending our children to school. Now that we have sent our children to school and they have been taken away who is going to fine the government?”Who indeed is going to fine government that had the primary responsibility of protecting them but failed them? The government of GoodluckEbele Jonathan did not initially accept that girls were abducted from their school and cast doubt in the minds of the people that linger till date.Many today still claim that the abduction never took place. That singular act of denying the abduction cost us the immediate rescue of #ChibokGirls and it is an unforgivable act.
One of the #ChibokMotherssays that whenever she hears people say that the abduction of #ChibokGirls never happened she asks herself if her 18 year old daughter never existed. She had a daughter whom she sent to school and has not yet returned home and people say it is a lie. We as a Nation wronged #ChibokGirls and their parents and we need to seek for their forgiveness.
The government of MuhammaduBuhari no longer bothers about #ChibokGirls. This was a government that mentioned #ChibokGirls at every opportunity when it was in opposition. Today it shows its disdain and anger at those who have consistently demanded for the rescue of #ChibokGirls by fencing off Unity Fountain Abuja where demands for the rescue of #ChibokGirls has been ongoing since April 30th 2014. The government of MuhammaduBuhari did not even bother with a statement on the commemoration of 2000 days in captivity for #ChibokGirls nor did it deem it fit to meet with the parents of the remaining #ChibokGirls who have been left in the dark as to what is the faith of their daughters still in captivity. For a government that sang to high heavens with the names of #ChibokGirls and mentioned them at every given opportunity when it was in opposition this is beyond heinous.
That Nigeria did not come together to make demands with one voice over the abduction of its children sent to school and abducted from the school shows how low our empathy level as a Nation is. By doing nothing when #ChibokGirls were abducted we showed our capacity to accept any heinous act meted on us and today Nigeria is seeing all sorts of atrocious acts each one being more shocking than the last.I end with the words of AliyyahYesufu who said; As long as #ChibokGirls are in captivity we all are in captivity!
