I have a daughter, a pretty little jewel she is.

We are best of friends and we have always played the hide and seek game since when she was 9 months old.

One day as we played this hide and seek game – where she runs and hides behind the chair or curtain and I pretend not to see her for a while before I finally find her and tickle her till she screams in excitement – I took a while to find her by pretending I didn’t know where she was and she grew impatient and popped out of the curtain and said to me “daddy see me here come and find me”.

She was not yet 2 years old.

She couldn’t understand why I was taking so long. She didn’t know why I couldn’t see her feet, she didn’t understand my delay and was definitely not in the mood to wait one second longer for me to find her and tickle her.

Every time I see Oby Ezekwesili’s tweet on my timeline or I hear some sort of conversation on the pressure to release the Chibok girls I remember this incident with my daughter. I remember the implicit faith she has placed in me that I will always find her and I ask myself how long will it take to get these 276 Nigerian’s out of the “lion’s den”?

How long will it take to prove to them that the national anthem they enthusiastically sang each morning in school isn’t a farce and that the State doesn’t joke with their lives and will do all it takes to get them home safe, ensure a meal for them and enable the warm embrace of their parents? How long! How long! How long.

Unlike my daughter they do not have the privilege to say “daddy see me here come and find me” They have been robbed of the blessings of the warmth of family, the encouragement of the state and the guarantee of their human rights which they studied in school with their teachers telling them that their human rights were fundamental and they were entitled to freedom of movement, association, speech and most importantly dignity of the human person.

I cringe at the thoughts that go through their minds each day they wake up and find themselves still in the grip of the enemy. Maybe they even catch a glimpse of the TV or newspapers and see the entire hullabaloo that’s going on about their abduction and the efforts being made to find them. They may be screaming in their hearts “find me! find me please”

I wonder what went on in their mind that day April 14th 2015 a day that will forever be remembered in infamy when they were packed into a bus and taken away. I am sure in their fright they still assured themselves that they will be found. I am sure they had hope that they won’t be long. They may even have entertained the hope that they will return to write their WASSCE and of cause they had hopes for the future.

I am certain that none of them had slightest inclination that they will put Chibok on the world map for the wrong of reason.
It’s been two years and I cannot even start to imagine what the parents of these children feel. I just CANNOT and the truth is no one except these parents know how deeply wounded, saddened, drained, angry, bitter and disappointed they feel. We can only empathise with them we truly don’t and will never know how they feel.

The world has lent a voice to the call for their release from Canada to China to the United States, United Kingdom the EU and many other nations.

The Nigerian government has repeatedly assured us of the release of the girls, committee’s set up, with the various territories being re-possessed by our armed forces.

I am not going to go into any legalise or the adequacy or otherwise of efforts in place so far, I believe enough has been said. I just want results.

Mr President you are the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed forces of our great nation, you came at a time when the nation yearned for a change.

Please find the Chibok girls, I am sure that like my daughter they are calling you to see them and find them. We do not want another year to go by, please find them and bring them home let them eat, sleep well and enjoy the warmth of family which the rest of us more often than not overlook the little blessings it brings even though it exemplifies the luxury these great 276 Nigerian’s now call freedom.

God bless our Dear Chibok girls and may HE keep them safe.

God bless Nigeria.

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Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija

Opinion article written by Omoruyi Edoigiawerie Esq