As usual with almost every other move made by President Goodluck Jonathan ever since he became the Vice-President of Nigeria and the Action Congress dogged him until he made public his asset declaration like his boss President Umar Yar’Adua had done, his recent hosting of Malala Yousafzai has also attracted some criticism, the major thrust of which is that he has snubbed the homegrown campaigners spearheading the #BringBackOurGirlscampaign.
Ordinarily, one would not feel any compulsion to write or respond to such criticisms as it is totally beside the issue but we risk reducing governance and human rights campaigns to such pettiness if we allow it to go unchallenged. I’ve refrained from criticising the campaign to #BringBackOurGirls because I’m a firm believer that if one cannot join a cause that has helped to bring attention to fate of the kidnapped girls, one should not hinder the cause in any way. And yes, I do believe that some girls from Chibok are missing (nobody on earth can confirm the accurate number, not even Shekau himself) but there is certainly a high degree of complicity at the top level in the state.
The issue this time though is why the President played host to young Miss Malala while ignoring the Oby Ezekwesili led coalition despite their attempt to take their grievances to Aso Rock in recent times. The DSS spokesperson may have spoken the mind of government when recently she declared that the #BringBackOurGirls campaign had become a conduit pipe for some individuals who were soliciting funds from some moneybags and had a political agenda to embarrass the government. While not mentioning names, Maurilyn Ogar expressed strong disapproval of their methods nonetheless.
Now, we can disagree on strategy but if the end result is productive then it justifies the means. Honestly, I’ve had much headache with the way the movement has been pushed forward. There should have been a change of strategy at the point where the western powers stepped in. As mentioned in this piece, I believe the plight of those girls may never have got the attention it deserves if the campaign had not been started on twitter and brought to the attention of foreign nations – it is our tradition in Nigeria (leaders and followers) to move on quickly – this was commendable but as Boko Haram still goes on killing people in their dozens, the bigger picture demands a higher cause – End Boko Haram; because as long as Boko Haram exists, there will always be threat to lives and property across the country.
Furthermore, governmental engagement goes far beyond the chants of ‘we no go gree’ on the streets to digging deep into the issues, discussing them with government and charting a proper way forward. Democracy requires more than doggedly holding on to causes but I understand if a generation of youths and some older citizens who missed the opportunity to become activists during the heady days of the military now find it convenient to organise protests and campaigns against the government – which is exactly why a serious government would give them no more attention than it has already.
Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has held up the #BringBackOurGirls banner and many ministers have joined the campaign at some point.Egbon Doyin Okupe also spoke in support of the movement at some point. The problem here is that too many of the people leading the movement are closely allied with forces in opposition to the sitting government and the truth is that many of those who have used disrespectful words against this president are some of the youths championing this same movement. The truth is the truth regardless of who is speaking it but the way it is accepted depends sometimes on who is saying it and this is where Malala is effective.
She is not an emergency activist – she has devoted her life to the cause of the education of the girl-child. Starting with a blog under a pseudonym at the age of 12 in 2009, an attempt was made on her life after she did a documentary with BBC focusing on the challenges of educating a female. In October 2012, she was shot at three times and one bullet travelled through her face and lodged itself in her shoulder – she survived but a group of Islamic clerics issued a fatwa on her the same month. From Gordon Brown to Madonna and Angelina Jolieto Hillary Clinton, the entire western political world stood with her and former First lady of the United States Laura Bush wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post in the same month (it’s now easier to write for them these days)where she likened Malala to the Holocaust survivorAnne Frank. A year after, President Obama and his family hosted the young lady and she was tipped to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
The problem with Nigeria is that we have too many emergency activist who wait for the crisis to come before stepping into the limelight. Kudos to those dogged and entrenched activists across our land fighting against seemingly inconsequential issues such as rape, domestic violence, the commercialisation of education, tobacco smoking and other societal ills. If a crisis occurs in any of those areas and one who has all along being preaching against things like that stands up to speak, it will carry not only much weight but also clearly cut to the heart of the problem and posit the ways-forward. When these activists comprise of people who once held the power to make a positive change at some point particularly in the area of the education rights agenda in some parts of the north, one cannot help but wonder if the entire thing is not hypocritical. If some Girl-Child campaigners exist in Nigeria, they should have been made the forefront of this campaign rather than those who are not so familiar with neither the issues in this area or counter-insurgency operations.
On the flipside, if President Jonathan had refused to meet with Malala Yousafzai, it would have been used as cannon-fodder to justify the assertion that the president doesn’t care about the Chibok girls – it is obviously a classical case of ‘do and you’re doomed, don’t and you’re damned’ for Goodluck Jonathan with some critics. The positives we should take away from this is that the President has used this opportunity to reiterate his willingness to meet with the parents of the kidnapped girls but critical eyes will always find the negative in everything.
As I said at some point in this piece though, those who cannot help must not hinder those who would at least do something to move the matter forward. I therefore have nothing against our belated activists but nobody should have anything against the visit of Malala Yousafzai and her welcome by the President of Nigeria – she has earned her respect and she deserves it from all of us.
Demola Rewaju owns Demola Rewaju Daily where this article was first published.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
