I rejoice with the first family in Nigeria on the return of Mr Yusuf Buhari from his trip to Germany, where he was flown to receive treatments.
You will remember that towards the end of last year, it was in the news that the President’s son was involved in an accident on his Power Bike in the capital city of Abuja and he suffered severe injuries.
At this very time, Nigerians were seen all over the country in glong queues at the very few filling stations that were selling fuel*. Simply put; there was fuel scarcity all over the country. People were staying long hour hours under the scotching December sun trying to get fuel.
In Nigeria, we depend on fuel (petrol) for almost every means of livelihood. This is because we do not have any reliable alternative sources of power generation. The ones available would need petrol to work. So, small businesses depend on petrol to run. Thus, our economy depends largely on its availability. Even in the area of transportation, since we don’t have our rail system working optimally, we still depend largely on petrol to run cars. In the light of these, you can imagine what the fuel scarcity would spell for an average Nigerian family economically.
I said all that to say that at the time that Nigerians were suffering because of fuel scarcity, our President’s son was “cruising” around town on his Power Bike (That was of course a sad occurrence). But it was a sensitive matter that should have been handled with some tactfulness because of the timing.
As the son of the President, we all expect that Yusuf will have some privileges. But the sensitivity was in the fact that what Nigerians lacked the most and sadly needed the most at that point in time was Petrol, Mr President couldn’t alleviate the problem and that was what the his son was blowing his Power Bike with.
That’s not the problem; I think. But some Nigerians thought the accident was some sort of Karma!
Fast forward to recent happenings, some days ago, about 110 school children were abducted by the Islamic extremist sect called the Boko Haram. Throwing the entire nation into another spate of pandemonium. An indication of the failure of our government to secure the lives of the citizenry.
We cannot begin to imagine what kind of trauma the parents of these 110 girls are going through at this time. We clamor for equal right to education for both the male and female gender but our government cannot protect our children, even in their schools.
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While this is still fresh in our hearts as a nation, the privileged son of Mr President returns from his trip to Germany and the President takes to the Cameras with other members of the ruling class to welcome him back home.
No! There’s nothing out of place in doing that. But my question is;
How many of the parents of these abducted children will have their girls brought back to them?
How many of them will be able to hold their girls in the same kind of warm embrace as the President did his son?
Can they rely on the same government that failed to prevent the abduction to facilitate the return of these girls?
How many Nigerians were involved in one accident or the other in December last year?
How many of them had access to public funds for treatments, let alone flying to Germany?
If the President’s daughter was among the abductees, would the narrative be the same?
I have more questions to ask but for time...
Who will even answer the ones already asked?
I feel the President should have just received his son quietly into his home and made it a private affair. Not rubbing it in the faces of those who conferred the privileges of the office on him and his family that they (Presidential Family) are privileged and they (the masses) on the other hand are less-privileged.
Congratulations Mr president on the safe return of your son. I hope the nation can count on you to #Bringbackourgirls (season 2)
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