JUSTICE FOR UWA CAMPAIGN: A LESSON FOR THE NORTHERN YOUTHS

I don't think I will be mistaken if I say the story of one Uwaila Omozua, who until her death was a student of university of Benin that was raped to death on 27th of may this year (2020) by some hoodlums has recently become the most trending story on the Nigerian Media space, particularly Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 

From the day that the story emerged, several articles have been flowing on media streets, numerous poems have been composed, this is in addition to the uncountable number of video clips, graphic images and tweets, that the hash tag #Justice_for_uwa appears among the most trending tweets on Twitter, thus alluring not only Nigerian or African but even international attentions.

It is enough to tell one how the campaign has succeed in reaching the target ears, the way the husked capricious President himself quickly responded to the issue through his twitter handle by offering his unanticipated commiseration to the family of the decedent, and emphasizing that all will be done in making sure that the rapist has face the law, albeit being capriciously dumb and mute on crimes similar to, or even worst than this.

One will be believe in me by remembering the story of how some Hausa traders were ferociously stabbed to death and several others injured In Ile-ife some number of years back, the story  of some nine children from Kano state that were abducted and taken to far southern part of the country, forcibly changed their names and religions, and the females among them were proved by medical examinations to have been subjected to rape several times, yet we did not hear a word from the president on this!  And this is just to mention few.

The case of Uwa is not the first nor the worst report of rape in this country, it is only one of the hundreds that occurs, in fact much more incessant and bloodiest forms of rape occurs almost daily  routines here in the north, the bandits attacks, don't they usually come along merciless rapes?

 The question is then how comes this one attracts media attentions than all the rest?

How comes even our aloof president felt that this one is worth giving attention?

Is it because of the religious, ethinic, tribal or political affiliations of the victim?

I don't think the answer is associated with one of the above speculations, but perhaps the nature, modes and methods of the campaign, the social unification of the geographic zone of the victim.

Theirs' is place where there's a deep perpetual sense of social sodality among youths, a place where a belief of common brotherhood and sisterhood are strongly hold, and most importantly, where the power of information and good usage of social media are rightly understood.

They believe that one most effective way to solve their problems is by making the world hear about it, and in doing that, they don't need any counter-regional or foreign media to help them, nor do they need to use aged elites, but rather, their Twitter and Facebook handles.

They believe that whatever bad happens to one of them, being a member of their family, local community, church or not, has affect them all, and fighting that is their collective responsibility, their duty and obligation.

No doubt, this are the differences that make the latter campaign hearable, and thus unlike all the former, efficacious.

The former were tragedies that took place ( and are still taking place) in a region where youths believe that all their regional dilemmas were caused by their elites, and hence finding a way out is nobody's task but those aged elites, if there's anything they shall do ( the youth), it won't be more than laying a torrent of blames, curses and slurs on them.

They do not understand the power of social media at all, their Facebook is meant for sharing jokes, pics, and making religious arguments, it is unknown to most of them that using a twitter hash tag can be an effective to  way for them to contribute in eradicating banditry, rapes, abductions and many more other predicaments.

This are manifestly, the reasons why the world knows the story of Uwa much more than the 9 abducted children from Kano, this is no doubt the reason why the story of a rape allured attention than that of a banditry.

The sense of solidarity is not vigous in this region, this is why despite the daily bandit killings in katsina, Sokoto, Zamfara, among others, it is very common to hear somebody from Kano or Jigawa commending the president on security matters, to his silliness, since suicide bombings had ceased in Kano then security has been granted, imagine!

Concludingly, the North, and in particular, the northern youth has some vital lessons to learn from this saga. The first is the importance of solidarity, the feeling that whatever ever bad affects any part of the region has directly or indirectly affect the whole region, and it is our collective responsibility to stand against it, being a religiously motivated region, the north is good in preaching that, but not in practicing!. The second is the good usage of social media, if the has tag (#justiceforuwa) can tren on social medias, why can't (#Endbanditry)?

  It is a high a time for us to complain less and act more, we should be matured enough to understand that cursing our elites is not a solution to our predicaments, but WAKING THEM UP.

We have great task ahead of us, tragedies of the north long to be listed, We must start to act now!

We must wake up!

#Wakeupnorth

#EndBanditrynow

© Nura Auwal Fagge

     13/06/2020