Let’s say the Chibok girls are rescued, “alive and unhurt” as the numerous campaign slogans and hopefully, all Nigerians are praying. Let’s say the insurgency is suppressed and obliterated from the North-East and other parts of Nigeria. Let’s say we wake up tomorrow and this whole nightmare ends. What next? Is it possible to carry on with life as know it? Is it even prudent to continue with life as we know it? Shall we pick up any lessons from this horrific experience or shall we, in typical Nigerian fashion, sweep it under the rug, gird our loins to continue in a lifetime of “suffering and smiling”? Will we trace our steps to discover how and why it was that circumstances had to deteriorate to this detrital level or will we try to forget it ever happened, thereby standing the risk of being assailed with the same vices later on? Well, this writer hopes not.
#BringBackOurGirls has been one of the most successful campaigns in social media. Not only has it raised awareness of the travails and tribulations the Nigerian people have been going through but it has united the world for a common cause, in a way that few other causes have succeeded. How moved was I to see celebrities from home and abroad, including the wife of the most powerful man on the planet, raising banners to state their solidarity to Nigerians in this trying time. Even world powers which have almost never been on the same side of one issue have thrown their force and intelligence behind the Nigerian government to find and bring our daughters and sisters home. Meanwhile back home, there is a widespread theme of prejudice, seperation, segregation, even apartheid. I have cringed watching Christians making marginalized remarks against Islam, Northerners proclaiming their distrust of members of eastern Nigeria and a general showing of apathy to the loss of life and destruction of property that is occurring in the North-East on a daily basis, by residents of areas of the country not affected by this uprising. Some have even dared to question the anguish that affected parents have been going through, to trivialize the emotional trauma this kidnapping has inflicted, to abuse humanity in no way a rapist or serial killer can by questioning the veracity of the abduction claims. It is shameful that we the affected, we the Nigerians, can not rise above the very divisions which have inspired these dissensions and unite to battle the storms that rage against our oneness and progress. Should we continue life as we know it? With this reckless disregard for country and humanity? The answer is no!
John Rico, a fictional character from popular sci-fi movie Starship Troopers once distinguished saying: “A citizen has the courage to make the safety of the human race their personal responsibility.” We all need to be citizens of our beloved country if we are to continue as one nation. We all need to be citizens of our beloved country if there are to be any improvements in our various sectors. We all need to be citizens and as one voice, stand up against the vices that terrorize our lives, our children, our futures. If there is to be Nigeria to inherit, if there is to be a tomorrow to hope for, we all need to summon the courage to make the safety and unity of our nation our personal responsibility.
One nation, hundreds of ethnic divisions, scores of religious dispositions, various strata and sub-strata of social classifications; yet, there are really only two types of people: Nigerians and the others. Every person who wakes up in the morning prepared to work for his living, instead of lurking about in the middle of night looking for whom and what to kill and destroy is a Nigerian. Every person who respects due process and the constitution and will not accept material or immaterial incentives to violate either is a Nigerian. Every person who remembers his country and her leaders in prayer, while actively working to improve its status is a Nigerian. This is the only justifiable partitioning of any well-meaning citizen, from president to beggar, bishop to imam.
I dare to speak about the future because I am optimistic about the present state of affairs. We will grow and tell our children of the time the nation was under siege, just like our parents speak about the Civil War. However, it will be even more tragic for the terror to be over and we go back to life as it is now. After all, it is only a fool that repeats actions and expects different results. Let’s decide to make a change today and be citizens of our beloved country.
Arise, O compatriots!
-The Nation Crier
thenationcrier 