Oke-Odo 42: When a nation fails its children

April 6, 2012 by Seun Adesida

As a youth corps member serving in Awkunawnaw Secondary School in Enugu, to get my monthly allowance at Umuchinemere Microfinance Bank, I must pass in front of the Holy Cross Rosary College, Enugu both to and fro, which from inside and outside represents a foremost educational institution, which till date offers pious comportment as curriculum coupled with quality educational environment for these wonderful children to grow up into responsible adults.

This is one school that protects its own jealously. However, far away from the watchful eyes of its progenitors, an avoidable and unfortunate tragedy occurred at Oke-Odo, Ogun State when 42 pupils of the school were reportedly waylaid, robbed and raped by armed robbers on their way to Lagos on Saturday, March 31. The attack on these children represents a grievous assault on our collective sanity and sanctity of human life; one attack too many on the foundation of this entity called Nigeria and the faith of millions of Nigerians.

In the final analysis, we have all failed them; we failed a generation of innocents; we failed at the breaking forth of a blossoming destiny; we failed 42 legacies that would probably become Okonjo-Iwealas, the 42 female students of Holy Cross Rosary College.

The Presidency has failed them, the National Assembly has failed them, Ogun and Enugu state governments have failed them; the Nigerian Police, Federal Road Safety Corps, and other state security apparatus have all failed.

Up till the time of writing this piece, President Goodluck Jonathan has not found his voice to condemn in strongest terms the perpetrators of this heinous act; the Governors of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun, and Enugu State, Sullivan Chime, carried on as ostriches with heads in the sand on the development, none has called for the arrest of the perpetrators of this evil.

It has been nine years since young Adeife and Akinola Sodipo-Akindeko were killed during an alleged robbery attempt on the convoy of Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello in 2003. Pronto, state apparatus were deployed to arrest the culprits, which led to a brief closure of the border with Benin Republic.

Adeife and Akinola would have been nine years older now had they not been brutally murdered. What nation wastes its young population like Nigeria and expects prosperity? I know none.

The ordeal of these 42 secondary school pupils was not enough to draw the attention of any member of the Federal Executive Council not even the Vice –President, Senate President or the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Not even the Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly in whose domain this tragedy took place has thought it fit and proper to take a position on this evil and deploy state apparatus to bring speedy justice.

Do politicians move around in the night? If they do, have you observed the retinue of security apparatus that is deployed to secure them? The luxury bus in which the pupils were travelling was held in traffic, no thanks to bad roads, which our leaders would not fix year after year. Above all, they took the few well equipped security officers to guide themselves at the expense of 42 innocent schoolgirls.

So I ask, what is government for? Could this have happened to the children of our legislators and governors and they would have been silent? This argument of travelling at night which makes the victims and drivers culpable stands logic on the head.

Does the constitution not guarantee safety of lives and property? The Nigerian Constitution states clearly in Section 14, subsection 2(b) that, “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.” The primary purpose of all forms of governance from Local Government to Federal Government is to provide security and welfare.This was what every government swears to uphold at every inauguration. Is this the case with the “Oke-Odo 42″? So does this constitutional provision exclude travelling at night?

If the roads were good would the vehicles be breaking down intermittently? It is the collective failure of us all, Nigerian citizens, that have so far failed to call our rulers/leaders to question on governance; failure of the respective local government chairmen to secure their parts of that treacherous portion of Sagamu/Benin Expressway.

It’s the failure of the Ogun State government to tinker with its internal security apparatus to secure its domain. It’s the greater failure of the Federal Government, who failed to provide adequate security for the 42 schoolgirls.

The constitution states clearly that “…it shall be the duty of the State to provide adequate facilities for and encourage free mobility of people, goods and services throughout the Federation.”

These are the provisions of the Nigerian constitution that guarantee the safety of these children wherever they may be travelling to within the Nigerian federation. It’s therefore not tenable to explain it away that they were travelling at night made them or the driver culpable. Robbery on that axis of the federal highway has been on the rise in recent times and what has the Nigerian Police and SSS done to secure victims?

This is one serial failure that ought to induce a total overhaul of the state security apparatus. Is it not shameful for the Ogun State police spokesman, Muyiwa Adejobi, to allude the escape of the culprits to the mastery of the terrain? You mean over the past 60 years, the Ogun State Police Command has yet to have knowledge of its terrain?

So, if you don’t know your terrain, why and what are you policing? After reading from parents and victims that the girls were violated, all our police spokesman told Nigerians was that “the police were not in the know of the rape as the students only complained about the robbery attack and not rape.” Did Adejobi conduct diligent investigation before arriving at his conclusion just because nobody reported?

Adejobi’s advice, though wise on the surface, lacked constitutional backing because the Nigerian constitution did not create movement dichotomy between daylight and night travel. It is stated clearly in Section 41, subsection (1) “Every citizen of Nigeria is entitled to move freely throughout Nigeria and to reside in any part thereof….” I am not a lawyer but I am informed of my rights which are constitutionally guaranteed but we have collectively accepted that we could live by being denied our basic rights.

Adejobi’s philosophy of ‘no night travel’ is just begging the question, because robbers operate in broad daylight on that same axis. Therefore, it means we should also avoid travelling in broad daylight. In another report, he told us that the police arrived and dislodged the hoodlums, so you dislodged them and not one was apprehended (Haba! The Ogun State Police Command you can do better).

Three days after the incident, the Police Command gleefully announced the arrest of the driver of the luxury bus and about four others. The question remains, are these real culprits or is it one of those public anger management antics of the police?

Ogun State has suddenly become the den of armed robbers yet its governor is busy chasing shadows while his state burns. He should refocus and learn from his closest neighbour, Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos. Though Lagos is not totally crime-free, one can see that the Lagos Police Command demonstrates good policing strategy. I have observed that once a car breaks down on any major road at night, you can be sure that police patrol vans will park and possibly tow your vehicle to the nearest safe spot. This is not without the support of the Lagos State government and the Private Public Partnership with financial institutions.

Like I said earlier, in the final analysis we have all failed the Oke –Odo 42. Nothing will assuage the pain and anger of these young ones other than quick dispensation of justice through the arrest and prosecution of the real inglorious men.

The best justice to this sad commentary on our national psyche is to provide special emotional rehabilitation for the girls; provide for their education through a special scholarship scheme to the tertiary level and finally ensure the robber-rapists are apprehended even if it takes five years; they must be made to account for the event of March 31, 2012.

•Adesida wrote in from Lagos, via picazy@yahoo.com (text only: 08058230994)