As CHILDREN demand for safety in US, Nigeria is bedevilled by liars, rogues, thieves, murderers and politicking

I’ve had the distinct displeasure of having to watch CNN all day. As I sat and watch an entire nation – the United States of America – be held to account by its children, I couldn’t help but weep for Nigeria. Teenager after teenager made articulate, impassioned pleas to President Trump to review gun laws in America after 17 students and staff were gunned down in South Florida last week.

Parents of deceased children and students took Trump and Rubio to task and asked difficult questions without fear of repercussion or safety to life.

Leaders squirmed under the direct questioning of children. Children! Flashlights were shone on their flawed decisions and politicking: Rubio could not answer a straightforward question about receiving funding from the NRA, and Trump’s usual brash, illogical and ill-conceived solutions to major problems were this time not dismissed with the usual resignation to his inanity. For two days straight, for the sake of seventeen lives, leaders served.

This development puts my country in stark contrast, and it just makes my heart break. In a few short days, a spiritual snake has swallowed N30million. A senator had the brass balls to claim monkeys were behind a heist leading to the disappearance of N70million, and then! To top it all off, 90 – yes, ninety girls have gone missing in Yobe, and not a single leader has given clarification on the issue or even visited the parents.

Nigerian leaders are answerable to no one other than their godfathers and their bank accounts. Their fingers drip with the blood of the people they are called to serve, and their brazenness increases daily with bald faced lies about animals and other conspiracy stories. Should the youth ever be so bold as to demand answers, they are reminded about constituted authorities and firmly put in their place – the place where they beg for their daily bread and their basic human rights.

Welcome to my country.

I do not know that anything will come of the two-day sessions with the president of the United State, Governor Rubio and the NRA. The NRA is a mighty force to reckon with, and those who tasked Trump with the job of Making America Great Again are not about to see him meddle with the Second Amendment. But oh, what a beautiful sight to behold! What a time to be alive: a time when leaders are actually held accountable for the blood on their hands.

Here’s hoping some of that breeze will blow in this direction.

Feature image courtesy The Independent and CNN.