#Bring back our boys

The spate of insecurity in Nigeria, especially in the North-west, is no longer news, but the rate at which the so-called bandits carry out their dastardly act undeterred is amazing. Nigeria is sliding into anarchy with disturbing news emerging from the polity every day. While the controversy of 16 Kano indigenes has not subsided whether they were killed, in a ghastly car accident, or by bandits, came the scary news of the abduction of over 600 students of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina state.

Abduction of students in large numbers in recent times can be traced to the one that happened in Chibok, Borno state then the mass killings of students in FGC Buniyadi, then Dapchi in Yobe and now Kankara.

It’s public knowledge that the Nigerian government has failed to give its citizens the much needed education to prepare them enough to compete globally, but what is most scary now is their inability to even secure the dilapidated, poorly furnished and understaffed schools. When I first heard of the news I tagged it as a national disgrace, that children in schools are no longer safe, when they go out to seek their fundamental right to education.

In a sane society heads would have rolled by now, ranging from security personnel to government officials for this national tragedy, but as usual our government will come out and say they are shocked by this act and condemn it in strong terms and perpetrators will be brought to book. That’s the end, the nation will keep quiet and wait for the next tragedy to occur.

The president and commander-in-chief had just arrived his home town Daura for a week long private visit when this calamity befell the students and parents of Kankara, but what baffles me is the audacity of the bandits to carry out this operation; Kankara is just 84 miles from the home of the C-in-C, that’s no surprise as Daura town itself is at the mercy of bandits.

I can’t ever claim to have understood the trauma of the parents, but I know a sound sleep and a good meal will surely evade them because they have lost the appetite. No wonder a famous speaker, once said, “The children of the poor you fail to educate will come back one day and hunt you”. And now they just did.

We demand that the federal government should expedite action and ensure the boys are returned safe and sound; we demand the unconditional release of the students of Government Science Secondary school, Kankara.

Dauda Haruna Tula

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