Yesterday was Children’s Day. And to be honest, I genuinely do not know what exactly we are celebrating anymore. Yesterday morning, I opened my phone, and one of the first things I saw was different Children’s Day posts from politicians, brands, government pages, schools, and public figures. Then somewhere in between all of that, I remembered the children that were kidnapped in Ogbomoso. Gunmen raided schools in Oyo, abducting 39 children aged 2 to 16 and seven teachers, killing two educators, including mathematics teacher Michael Oyedokun, who was beheaded. And the whole thing started feeling strange to me. Because how do you celebrate children in a country where parents are terrified of sending them to school? How do you post “Happy Children’s Day” while some families are praying for their children to come back home alive? What makes everything more painful is how quickly Nigeria moves on from things. One moment everybody is angry, shocked, posting about it everywhere, and then slowly, silence. I woke up this morning from my bed covered in a duvet and was still so cold, and I could only imagine what the kidnapped children and toddlers that were kidnapped in the Orire community in Ogbomoso were going through.
The people meant to lead this country are more emotionally connected to elections than to actual Nigerians. Somewhere in Nigeria today, a parent is still waiting for their child to come back home. And somehow, at the same time, the president was celebrating winning his party primaries. That contrast alone is enough to make your chest heavy. Because maybe this would have felt less painful if the country itself felt stable. If people felt safe. If Nigerians were not already exhausted from insecurity, inflation, kidnappings, and the general feeling that nobody is really in control anymore. But that is not the reality. The reality is that people are struggling badly. And yet, politics never seems to stop for even a second. Celebrations continued. Speeches were made. Supporters cheered.
It’s been 2 weeks since 40 children were kidnapped from their school in the Orire local government area. The president has done practically everything other than rescuing these children. There was no need for a celebration yesterday because the children in Nigeria are either hungry, malnourished, or out of school because of bandits or, worse, they’ve been kidnapped by bandits. This is Tinubu’s legacy.
