Gobe in Yobe

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It's interesting how I was planning to blog about a very out of the ordinary Yoruba traditional wedding I attended yesterday, which would then segue into non-stop touting of the Yoruba culture. 

Yet, this illustrious culture is housed in a country that, euphemistically speaking- and understatingly at that- still has much room for improvement.

The news  I heard today permits me to change alter the subject of today's blog altogether: Gunmen kill at least 30 in a school attack in Yobe State, Nigeria. Like set the school on fire, and shoot anyone that tries to escape, kind of attack. Apparently, this is not the first incident, as Allafrica.com reported a similar occurrence on June 23. I am shocked and appalled, for many reasons- I shall state them in bullet points below, for all intents and purposes of clarity: 

• These attacks happened after President Johnathan issued a state of emergency for the area, meaning preemptive measures should have been taken to prevent such from occurring - the fact that this had occurred twice (both in incidents not too far apart), is even more bewildering.
•  It's one thing for a  rebel attack to occur in a country, it's another for it to occur in an almost lawless country (call a spade a spade. When a whole government cannot quell insurgency in some parts of it's country....it's lawless. ...OK incompetent would be more befitting). 
• The report quotes a source, who states "there is no protection for students despite all the soldiers." Shocked and      appalled is an understatement. 
• The whole Western world mourned the death of the Sandy Hook students this past December, who fell to the hands of a single gunman, and almost the entire world knew about it. I literally felt as if the whole world was standing still to watch reports from CT stream into their various news channels (for me, it was BBC at the time). These school burnings, have happened twice. Not to even say there's not enough media coverage on the issue (which is slightly debatable, but that leads to another subject of Nigeria's inapt government being the root cause of such news not gaining notoriety), nor to even say that one situation is more extreme than the other (in my opinion, when a human life is taken as a result of insensitive actions, it's extreme). I am just trying to expound a situation of active reaction (America) vs. passive reaction (Nigeria), as many will read this news, but God forbid another Boko Haram attack later in July.

Which brings me to the main beef of this blog. Honestly, I would love others opinions on this, and definitely tell me if I am wrong, or don't know enough being that I am not physically in Nigeria). As I think of the reason for such passivity amongst Nigerians and the Nigerian government, many different conclusions come to my head (all of which I cannot confirm, as I am a literally distant bystander): Maybe Nigerian's take "suffering and smiling" and "laugh through ones pain" and run with it, becoming more and more settled with the situation of their country with leaving it for good being their only hope for change. Maybe the lack of sense of unity causes other parts of Nigeria to not want to continue pressing the government to do something about what's going on in the North. Maybe the people don't realize the power they have to make a change ---they should definitely head north east and  recruit some Egyptians to become Nigerians, because they are clearly 'bout it. There's clearly much that goes into preventing such tragedies from occurring again, yet I don't feel as if Nigeria has it down -at all. 

To make Obama's recent famously quoted statement endemic to this situation, maybe one day Nigeria will be for Nigerians. 'Coz  Because I would love to be able to safely enjoy the traditions of my culture in its original land without hesitation or apprehension, instead of having to do so in a foreign one.

BolaBijou <3

Dedicated to the 30 lives lost. I never knew you, but I know your potential was incomparable.