Having advertised its gross incapacitation, having demonstrated in word and deed its cluelessness over the whereabouts of the abducted students and their family members, the government at least, found a wholesome diet in the humble pie by dispatching a delegation and deploying more police officers to Niger State. Beyond this, however, President Muhammadu Buhari has done nothing to help secure the release of the victims; forcing Governor Abubakar Sani Bello to cry out that the state has been left on its own in the task of securing the release of the 42 persons, including 27 students, three teachers and 12 family members, kidnapped from Government Science College Kagara, Niger on February 17. Eight days and counting is agonizing, and the official insensitivity on display is befuddling. It is sickening that no answer is being offered anxious and tormented parents, relations and Nigerians to the debauchery.
Governor Bello’s irreverent outburst, which gravitated into outright display of frustration and anger in the public space, is a pointer to the fact that Nigeria’s political leaders are yet to imbibe statesmanship in the midst of collective suffering. The Governor who received the Senate Chief Whip and former Abia state Governor Orji Uzor Kalu, who was at government house to commiserate with the people of Niger over the security challenges facing the state, said though the federal government sent a delegation to the state and deployed more policemen, it had done nothing to help in securing the release of the victims. Bello said the Niger state government had been left to shoulder all the financial responsibility to secure the release of the abducted students.
“At the moment we have not seen any federal support here since this incident occurred. Yes, we had a delegation that came to commiserate with us, but we are left to ourselves. With or without any support, the state government has already made a commitment to the people of the state to rescue the abducted school children and therefore we will do everything possible to ensure their release unhurt. We will use whatever means and resources available to make sure the children return home safely,” Bello said, adding however that “we don’t have exact day and when these children will be released but I am very sure very soon.”
For over eight days after the traumatizing abduction of the students by gunmen, Nigerians have been at a loss over their location and condition. Amidst consistent bad news over insecurity, news of the missing Kagara students seems to have been drowned by a plethora of routine government activities; after all, incidents like these do not stop government from working. This slow, tacky, feeble and inept federal government response has been viewed as deliberate, giving credence to all shades of interpretations. Was the government genuinely interested in the plight of the students, their parents and families? Are Nigerian leaders so emotionally disconnected from the predicament of ordinary Nigerians? How would the President, Vice President, Senate President, House Speaker or any governor or minister have reacted if their own children were so abducted?
There is no doubt, therefore, that the scandalous inaction of the government, as observed in its obvious incapacitation, its lack of diligence, and seeming disregard for the plight of the masses and people outside the corridors of power, is responsible for Governor Bello’s pontifications and the viral worldwide reaction to the abducted students. True, in concord with the sentiments echoed by many well-meaning Nigerians, the complexity and multilateral dimensions of the scourge of kidnapping for ransom justify a request for presidential leadership that has been regrettably absent.
At this crossroads, there should be no rest for President Buhari and everybody down the line including the service chiefs and men of the armed forces until the students and their teachers and family relations are rescued. No other excuses or explanation will obviate the official tardiness and incompetence being displayed by everybody. The citizens are fast losing faith in government, particularly over this scourge of kidnapping innocent students from college campuses. Inferences of internal sabotage or even suspected limitation by the armed forces can no longer be tolerated. When will Nigerian leaders begin to take responsibility for their actions or inaction?
It is now incumbent on Governor Bello to reassure the public that his pledge to free the victims was well considered, otherwise, he would be seen as a mere political jobber seeking to hoodwink and deceive the people. The Niger Commissioner for Information, Alhadji Mohammed Sani Idris, at a news conference Thursday, after the State Executive Council meeting, reiterated the government’s commitment to secure the release of all the victims. “Bello (Governor) is bent on the release of all those abducted, we are not foot dragging on this. We will employ a lot of strategies. The state is open to negotiation; we will use multiple strategies to get them out,” Idris said. Idris however maintained that it is not the government’s policy to pay ransom. Such circumlocutious bloviating is not what the people expect at this time. The Commissioner occupies a strategic office, whereby he should know better. Let it not be that he is raising false hopes or that his statement was simply geared towards public posturing and empty grandstanding.
At this juncture, what Nigerians would like to know is the efforts being made towards rescuing the students and their teachers. A situation where gunmen and Boko Haram insurgents have escalated their campaign by regularly kidnapping innocent children from schools and even their homes, in addition to incessant bombing of innocent civilian soft targets, resulting in mass destruction of lives and property, is unacceptable. Nigerians are looking unto their leaders to protect them. The President should rally forces and contain the bad situation and save the nation, indeed the entire world, from further agony.
The Buhari administration can no longer act in the illusion that things will get better; it must now accept that it has been living in denial and deceiving the people. This unfortunate delusion was aptly captured by the paradox of an insensitive government without any good sense of priorities that dispatched a delegation to console the grieving people of Niger and deployed more police officers for whom such postings must be nothing other than a punishment, whilst the abducted victims remain in captivity. The Nigerian government has shown that it cannot protect its people, attract foreign investment and lead the country to its full potential if it cannot contain an insurgency and guarantee the safety and security of school children on campus. Now that Governor Bello has cried out for help from the federal government, there should be no rest until the students are rescued. Like all humanity, we cry from the heart: Bring Back Our Kagara Students.
