By Ochi Ogbuaku Jnr.
While politicians politick… Nigerians are going through untold hardship and uncertainty. I am heartbroken by this development. “We are now waiting for their call and how much is the ransom”. God. Is this Nigeria?
“Ochi, that Nigeria you left in 2015, is VASTLY different from Nigeria today” a senior colleague said in a conversation yesterday. She told me how Abuja city I grew up in the 80s and early 90s is now riddled with checkpoints and gated communities. My mind simply couldn’t comprehend it. Only those who lived in Abuja then can appreciate my dilemma.
We all have a share in the blame. When misfortune befall my neighbor, I look away and pretend it doesn’t bother me. Until it happens to us. If millions of Nigerians poured out into the streets when almost 300 girls were kidnapped in Chibok in 2014, I have a feeling we would not be here today. The way things are going, may we not wake up to a radio broadcast announcing a terrorist takeover of the airwaves. I doubt that all the ransom money being collected, now running into hundreds of millions of naira is not being saved for kuli-kuli.
This is no longer politics as usual. This is beyond religion, it is beyond north vs south, it is beyond ethnicity. In the words of Martin Luther King, ”We must learn to live together as brothers and sisters or perish together as fools.”
I pray for the safe return of my friends relatives and the safety of the kidnapped 5 day old baby. Heartbreaking.
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