WHAT is in April that makes the month tick nationally? It is a month like no other month in the annals of the country. Things have happened in the month that reverberated around the world. Check : the Orka coup of 1990. Check : the abduction of the Chibok girls last year and now the abduction of the Orekoya boys. All these happen at various times in April. These were earthshaking events, which threw the country into a spin.
The country was shaken to its foundation when these events occurred. The Orka coup hit the Babangida regime where it least expected. The regime did not know what hit it until the plotters struck. It was through sheer luck that the regime survived the onslaught. Being one not to push his luck too far, former military president Gen Ibrahim Babangida promptly moved the federal capital from Lagos to Abuja, where he believed he would be safer.
One year after the Chibok girls were kidnapped from their school, the question is still : when will they be rescued? It was 12 months last Tuesday that they were abducted from their Government Girls Secondary School (GGSS) in Chibok, Borno State, by Boko Haram insurgents. The world was stunned that the girls, many of who are in their impressionable years, could be seized from their hostels in the wee hours of the day and taken into captivity.
Nigerians expected the government to react in equal measure to the insurgents’ audacious challenge, but nothing was done. For two weeks, the government felt unconcerned while the girls languished in Boko Haram den. To the government, it was impossible to kidnap such number of girls in one fell swoop and so it did nothing for those two weeks. Nigerians were shocked by their government’s stance, provoking questions, such as, will hoodlums notify their victims before they strike? What is government’s job if it cannot protect its people? If the girls were children of the rich would government turn a blind eye to their plight?
The posers arose because the government created the impression that it must be informed before crimes, such as the abduction of the Chibok girls, are committed. Thus, since it was not so informed, it dismissed the girls’ abduction with a wave of the hand. By the time, it decided to act, the girls had been taken far deep into Sambisa Forest. This was why its much-vaunted six-week onslaught against Boko Haram before the general elections came to nought – it did not lead to the rescue of the girls – because it was too little too late. Will the girls ever be rescued? The government says they will, but Nigerians are not that convinced. But we all live on the hope that one day a miracle will happen and the girls will be back home.
It is this kind of miracle that the Orekoya family is praying for now. The Orekoyas have been in agony since April 8 when their children – Aderomola (11 months), Ademola (6) and Adedamola (4) – were kidnapped by their housemaid, Mary Akinloye. The maid ran away with the boys, barely 24 hours after she was employed. Mary (I am sure this is not her real name) had her plan well laid out before she took the job. From reports so far on this unfortunate incident, the Orekoyas, it seemed, walked into a set up by Mary and her gang. The kidnap of these boys was well planned and clinically executed by a maid who was supposed to care for them.
Like all animals in human skin, she first won the confidence of the kids’ mother, Mrs Bisi Orekoya, before moving in for the kill. Within hours of getting to the home of the Orekoyas, she had tidied up everywhere, giving the place a spick and span look. Of course, the woman of the house was impressed and let down her guard. Who wouldn’t? First impression, they say, matters. With that act, Mary got Mrs Orekoya. a working class mum, who needed her services so as to relieve her of the stress of working and taking care of the home. Many women indulge in this luxury these days.
In the past, our mothers did everything themselves, whether or not they were working. I agree that times have changed and that today’s women need extra help to cope with work and family challenges, but they should be wary of the kind of servants they go for. No matter how good a maid may be, she cannot take the place of a mother in the life of a child. This is the mistake some of our mothers make today. Once they get a maid, they hand over their homes to her. The maid becomes the madam of the home and before you know it she becomes another thing.
The truth is that if they can help it, most girls would not want to be maids. They would rather prefer to play madam. This is why women must open their eyes wide while hiring maids. No matter how good and industrious maids appear, madam must not give them an elbow room to operate. Yes, she may need a maid’s services, but she must know where to draw the line. There must be certain things the maid must not do in the house. But under the guise of ‘’working myself to the bones’’, many women have unwittingly handed over their homes to their maids.
I am not blaming the Orekoyas for hiring a maid since they could afford it, but the question is did they take all the necessary precautionary steps? Did they do diligence check on the girl’s background? Or were they in such a hurry for her services that they allowed her to sell them a dummy? These maids are streetwise; they can get some funny characters to stand for them as aunts, brothers, sisters and uncles before their would-be employers. When trouble comes as we have now seen in the Orekoyas’ case, such ‘relations’ will simply disappear.
I feel for the Orekoyas and pray that soon they will be reunited with their children. For God’s sake, why will anybody kidnap toddlers? Why? May God touch the kidnappers’ hearts and let these children go.
* The kids were rescued early yesterday after this article had been written.
