by Kayode Badmus

Children’s day has come and gone and these kids missed out, so today we would be celebrating another democracy day but are we even in a democratic society? Does democracy mean insecurity? 

Today Nigeria celebrates 15 years of uninterrupted power in the hands of democratic leaders but truth be told, the mass of the Nigerian populace would rather prefer 15 years of uninterrupted power supply. Saying the country is in turmoil is putting things mildly but unfortunately our leaders think otherwise. In a recent political commercial, President Jonathan has revealed that like Nelson Mandela did in South Africa and Barrack Obama is doing in America, he is also “doing it” for Nigeria which brings the question, is he doing it?

Today, the President would address the world on the state of affairs in the country and sadly, he would assert that his government is trying its best…a statement which is more insulting than Abacha’s reference to us all as “fellow Nigerians”. Unfortunately less than half of the Nigerian populace would not even get to watch the President’s address due to power failure despite all the jamboree about improved power generation, privatization, ownership transfer amongst all other credulous tales we are made to believe . However this piece wouldn’t dwell on that, rather my focus shall once again be on the continued detention of the over 200 girls Boko Haram abducted.

Today Nigeria is supposed to celebrate the perceived success of our democracy. Today the world is supposed to congratulate Nigeria for standing the test of democratic time but are we really worth congratulating. Today I celebrate my birthday but I feel sad knowing fully well that some of these girls have had to celebrate their birthdays in the den of a confused and ruthless being who hides under a noble religion to perpetuate evil. But come to think of it “is Shekau impenetrable”.

Just yesterday news went viral that four of the kidnapped girls have escaped the forsaken movement which is a real surprise to me. This follows reports of a few weeks ago which had it that some villagers in Borno killed about 200 Boko Haram insurgents. It is also a known fact that some of the girls numbering about 50 escaped while being transported from their school and some others in the early days of the abduction. Now young girls are getting smarter than these militants, untrained civilians (civilian JTF, Vigilantes, Hunters etc) have been successfully battling the Boko Haram with little armory but the strongest military on African soil which was once reputed to be one of the strongest in the world haven’t been able to do anything. America,Britain and the world allegedly gave their support weeks ago but why are the girls still missing?

Children’s day has come and gone and these kids missed out, so today we would be celebrating another democracy day but are we even in a democratic society? Does democracy mean insecurity? What’s the military even hiding? I read with shame the statement of the defense chief saying they now know where the girls are but wouldn’t be attacking for some security reasons. It is only in this country our military spend more time talking to the media than combating. I wondered the other time people made a ruse out of the fact that the president refused to visit Chibok where the girls were abducted as if that would #BringBackOurGirls. I also wonder why the service chiefs have not all relocated to the Sambisa forest hide out of the criminals but would rather speak in the comfort of their zones in the FCT. It was also in the media that Northern leaders advised the Federal Government to simply dialogue with the sect rather than confront them. To me, this sounded like “please don’t kill our children,just negotiate with them and give them what they want”. The honest truth is that a whole lot of things are not what the Nigerian populace are made to believe. Those in the know have more information about Boko Haram and its activities than they are making us believe and the earlier we get our acts right, the better or else the abduction saga would be but a child’s play. Happy Democracy Day Nigeria.

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