So, yesterday we dropped our books and we took to the roads; male and female, Christians and Muslims introvert and extrovert, holding cardboards with different inscriptions, we marched around the campus-the great Obafemi Awolowo University. Only one thing was on our lips: ‘#BringBackOurGirls.’
However, on getting to the point of our convergence, I must say, I was surprised at the low turnout of people. This is OAU, I thought; the University with a reputation for standing for what it believes in.
As we marched on, to some, we only seemed like a bunch of jobless youths who were only taking advantage of the happenings in the country to display their naughtiness. To them, we were the unserious students. Yet, we continued our march.
I was surprised that many still don’t know some girls are missing. “What on earth are you doing with your life?” was the question in my heart. One even asked me,” are you a Hausaman?” I guess she couldn’t understand why a westerner would be concerned about some girls in the far north. And I wondered the more. It is glaring how unconcerned Nigerians can be. As long as they are not directly affected, we wouldn’t bother. Isn’t it obvious, that this same attitude is what has led us to the current state of anarchy? “After all, it is only happening in the North”, “it is not affecting us”, “it has not taken food away from our tables” are some of the things we say; but woe to that generation that cannot decipher trends; woe to that people who do not know the consequence of the present happenings. What we don’t know is that if they don’t #BringBackOurGirls today, tomorrow they will come back to take us.
I equally was not sure what the effect of our ‘#Solidarity Walk’ was, but I couldn’t have absented myself from anything that would ‘#BringBackOurGirls’ and at the same time, make a demand for a more responsive and responsible government. Yes, our protest might not directly bring back our girls from the evil forest. Our protest may not go to Aso Rock to get answers from the president. But one thing is certain: we will no longer sit and watch, under the auspices of ‘there’s nothing we can do’ or our various religious activities, and let evil men jeopardize our common peace. We will no longer discriminate, segregate, or turn deaf to the cries of our fellow county men.
We may not have done much, but we have learnt a voice to our sisters, future wives, mothers, and in laws. We have declared our stand not to let evil persist. We have declared Aluta against all oppression.
We are #teamOAU
We are relatives of the #ChibokGirls
We are Nigerians.
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.