THE PRESENT MATTER

Hello everyone,

I planned to upload something different today but I had to get this off my chest first..phew!! Thank you for reading and have a lovely week.

I do not know exactly how many they are in number; some have said 250, others have quoted higher figures and recently, there have been many writing ‘234’ followed by hash tags of “bring back our girls”. The number is not important in the real sense because even if it were only 1 girl, she still should not have been taken away for any cause. Neither does the gender matter because if it were a boy either, he still should be brought back home to where he belongs. With the trending news of the Chibok matter, one cannot ignore the situation of Nigeria, no matter how oblivious you may have been previously to what happens in the country.

Personally, I strive not to get involved in issues that I think could be political, mostly because I do not understand what happens behind the closed national doors of assembly and so, I have never written about such matters. However, the sudden looks of sadness, anxiety and the questions that I am faced with these days whenever I proclaim that I am Nigerian to someone have prompted me to write about these thoughts, which have filled my mind recently. Someone asked me last week if I knew any of the girls; another asked about the Nyanya bomb blast yesterday and a close friend had recently questioned me in a whisper “who are the Boko Haram people?” My answers have been similar, - I do not know the girls in person; I do not know who threw the bomb or who might have died from it and I do not know any Boko Haram person or if I do, then I do not know that the person is a member but I know that these problems did not just start in Nigeria; they have just been ignored for so long and now, we are all facing the consequences. I remember when there was shooting in Borno state; it was not long since after our current president had been sworn into office in 2011. Do not misconstrue my writing please, I am not saying that the killings had anything to do with Mr. President; I am sure that they were active before then but that was the first time I truly paid attention about them and after that, there have been series of stories of church bombing, public shootings and riots; sometimes occurring simultaneously.

I keep telling myself that we could have done something earlier to prevent this current situation. A lot of us have pointed fingers at the president, some at the opposing political parties and there have even been rumours of sponsors dropping arms and provisions for the attackers. Although I am not sure about what we could have done or how we should have done it, I am pretty sure that blaming everyone or anyone in particular has not been very helpful. I have been most impressed by the groups of women who have organised campaigns on the streets, some wailing as they brand their posters in the air; but I have also been confused by some of the smiling faces in some of these campaign pictures, one might wonder if the women smiling really knew what they were on the streets for.  I have also read some beautiful articles and quotes about the abducted girls but what struck me the most was a writing I came across saying that some people are only posting about this event on their social network just to stay relevant. How callous!, one might think but I am sure that he or she who wrote that had personal reasons, so there is no need for me to judge. Maybe he or she meant that we should not just write or quote once about the girls; we definitely need more action and creativity.   Unfortunately, I do not know if any of our beautiful words or expressions is being read by the president, governors or senators who have the power to act actively concerning the woes of the country. Nonetheless, until something is done to release our girls and make our country better, we all need to be alert and continue to spread awareness so as to bring about justice and make sure that this matter is not forgotten and let to die away slowly; just like many others have done in the past in our beloved country. And so, it is with this hope that some of us write, believing that we shall be read by someone, anybody, who can help to alleviate this present national burden.

Twitter handle: @vivio_gogo