‘It may interest you to know that in a recent meeting I had with parents of the Chibok girls, I assured them that government would not rest until all the the girls are rescued alive and returned to their parents. I remain fully committed to this pledge.’
These words are buzzing everywhere on cyberspace with headlines announcing President Buhari’s commitment before the European parliament earlier today.
What he didn’t state is that he had sent a delegation to speak with the parents who had travelled 48 hours to see him and had faced all sorts of harassments by the Nigerian state. That the parents, community, and BBOG respectfully preferred to wait for him as he was in a meeting with the visiting president from Benin Republic.
I’ve been wondering, had the visiting group given in and met with that delegation as against preferring to meet with the president himself, what would he have said today? That recently he sent a delegation to speak with the parents who travelled 2 days to see him? Parents who had their daughters abducted for 21 months, whom he had repeatedly made promises to. How would that have made him look?
And that is the point. I recall how days after the meeting especially BBOG was called names and accused of several things. Today, we are all proud that Mr President actually did meet with the parents himself, and gave a recommitment, and that it was important for it to be so.
On 17 August 2015, a group of anticorruption/anti-impunity protesters marched to register their stand with the president at the State House. The president had been officially written according to laid down protocol, with the letter duly acknowledged by State House staff. On that day, the saucy guards at the State House gate turned them back. The others claimed ignorance of the appointment and the letter. There had to be a form of civil disobedience which sort of embarrassed the government before the president sent a team to hear the protesters out and to relay his commitment to combat corruption and impunity in Nigeria.
The question is, what if the protesters had sheepishly turned back? Who would’ve lost? By insisting on meeting the designated representatives, and hearing a commitment from the president, Nigeria won. We all won. It would’ve been a monumental missed opportunity to counter the then emerging narrative being pushed by a certain once respected religious /social figure who was representing some interests aligned to perpetrating the status quo.
Don’t love PMB to death. If you love Nigeria and her greatness, be an active citizen. ‘Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.’ Don’t defend PMB over the indefensible. Point it out. Support those who do so objectively, or keep quiet. He isn’t god. Let him correct his errors and missteps and move on.
We’ve come this far. This Change is within reach, we can’t blow this rare opportunity. As for me, I have promised myself that I’ve been through too much, this Nigeria must work in my lifetime.