Still on Kano Missing Children
By Saleh Bature
Mothers of abducted kids in Kano demonstrated yesterday against what they describe as Kano state government’s nonchalant response to the plight of the 118 children, who were kidnapped and sold into slavery in southern Nigeria.
The mothers thronged the headquarters of Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission, to lodge a formal complaint to the Executive Chairman of the Commission, Barrister Muhuyi Magaji Rimingado.
Kano state government cannot be absolved of blame if what the parents of the children victims have been saying is anything to go by. Parents of the kids accused the government of naivety and cool response to all efforts at rescuing the children.
Some parents interviewed by Freedom radio recently said, the Kano state government’s refusal to send a delegation to Anambra state to bring back some kids earlier identified as abductees from Kano, about four months ago, indicates government’s lack of concern on the matter.
The visibly shocked and disoriented mothers who take part in the demonstration cry profusely and invoke the name of almighty God to intervene and reunite them with their children.
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The questions people are asking about the Kano missing children are, why their sorry plight does not gain traction on the social media? Would the matter be treated with such laxity if It were the children of the rich or people in power who had been kidnapped? Would the world be dead silent if children from the south were kidnapped and sold into slavery in the north? Is it because the victims are not our children that’s why we are indifferent and cannot show empathy to their pains? Would the evil couples, Paul Owne and his wife Mercy Owne, kidnappers of Kano 9, be punished for their crime?
It is curious why the government and the public are unconcerned about the sad state of Kano missing children. Only parents of the victims and few concerned individuals show keen interest in the matter. Have we lost a sense of our humanity?
In the same way we spoke loud and in unison about end SARS campaign, the abducted Chibok girls, the Dapchi and the recent Kankara Abductions; let’s not abandon the Kano missing kids and their parents to their own devices. Let’s identify with them and share their grief.
The tragedy of the Kano kids is more heart-wrenching as most of the victims are under ten. Some of the parents have died of trauma while others have developed life threatening sickness as a result of the abduction.
I notice that the Federal Government in its own wisdom has kept silent on the matter. There is no justification for Abuja to keep mute on issue that threatens the life and emotional wellbeing of over one hundred innocent young Nigerian citizens.
The federal government ought to have been involved in investigation and rescue of the kids in the first place. The victims are bono fide Nigerian citizens who are supposed to be protected by the government.
As Fredrick Douglas say, “Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.”
May the 2021 new year be the auspicious year which all parents of the abducted Kano children reunite with their children. May we also not be witness of any such unkind and cruel treatment of children in Nigeria.
