So I went to see my doctor about what I believed to be a routine check-up, and the next things I knew, I ended up at the ER. Still believing that it was something minor, that everyone was making a fuss for nothing, I saw myself delayed overnight. Okay, I said, one night will not kill me, but the problem was that I never posted my blog for the day, a blog I had written and waiting to post.

All I know is, I did not fret. I know that if the girls had the chance of following my blogs, they would know that I always have their back, that if I did not post, something beyond my control must have happened. I am out, and backs, but I must remember to slow down. Aging seems to be catching up, no, sneaking up on me, and I must remember to accept this and slow down.

More than a month ago, some Nigerian governors came together and told us that the abducted girls will soon be freed and returned. I for one did not believe that they were serious. These were people who were so far removed from that problem, people who believed they were talking to the gullible. See what has happened. See how they have not even contributed anything toward finding the girls. They made their empty promises, turned back and returned to their various states, and, I am sure, quickly forgot all about the promises.

I had expected that the least they could have done was send help, visible help toward finding the girls. Did they? We know they did not.

(We will continue.)

At last, I made it. Do not ask questions and I will not tell you tales.

If the Nigerian Army were to move as fast and as stealthily as Boko Haram, the abductions by this group will not go undetected, or at least, the group will not easily get away with them. It would seem that the agreement with the countries bordering Nigeria to tighten their borders against Boko Haram is beginning to pay off. News from Chad tells us that more than one hundred captives recently taken by Boko Haram from Nigeria, were all freed and all the captors killed.

This is the kind of news we want to hear coming from Nigeria, and not the cry over the inadequacies of the Nigeria army. It is not clear whether the hundred freed in Chad are the same hundred boys kidnapped, also recently in Nigeria. The news did not link the two, but we did not hear anything about two different abductions. Unless more Boko Haram’s exploits are not being reported as a plan not to give their activities undeserved publicity. However, they continue to abduct to replenish their number who are captured and killed on a daily basis. Those blood suckers have no regard for life, not even their own lives.

One thing I know for sure, Boko Haram is marked for failure. When that happens, we shall see the cowards for what they are, a bunch of illiterate and spineless fools. Only fools can deride education, whether western to otherwise. And only fools can deny education to anyone, on the basis of gender.

(We will continue.)

When the northern leaders give an ultimatum to President Jonathan of Nigeria, like the one they gave him recently; to find and free the abducted girls or lose their support for re-election, it is always with an ulterior motive. These leaders believe that because they have short memories, everyone else does. They created a monster for their own selfish means, they lost control of this monster, even though they still support and protect it. The monster has created this big uncertain void in the country, especially in the North. With their support of the monster and all, they want President Jonathan to clean their mess without any help from them? These people really believe that they are the smartest in the country.

Mind you, I am not holding any candle up for the president. As the leader of the country, he has woefully failed in his duties as leader, but I can see how he was set up for failure. He should have seen it coming too and done something about it before it got out of control. He should have the courage to begin to sack those who have failed to do their job, and are now holding him hostage for dragging his feet for too long. It is this failure to do his job, and to find those who can do it that shows him off as a weakling.

See how the Minister of Health sacked doctors who are on strike, especially on strike when the country is facing a health problem as serious as Ebola. I have said it before and I say it again, President Jonathan should look around him and remove all the dead wood surrounding him, who are making him look bad, real bad.

(We will continue.)

When I look at the number of blogs I have written, and the number of days the abducted girls have been missing, I have a sense of foreboding. Where have all the promises gone? What on earth could be happening to those girls? What will they be thinking? That the whole world have forsaken them, forgotten them, and abandoned them? What does anyone want them to be thinking? Lost! And their parents, and families? Helpless!

The politicians want to put the issue of the girls behind them without resolving it. Depending on what side one is standing, the South does not see this as their problem. As far as they are concerned, the North brought this upon themselves, and they should solve it. The North, on the other hand, does not see this as a problem. They in fact see the girls as war bounty, a war they are fighting against themselves. And this is what is troubling about this whole drama, the way the different peoples look at it.

Whichever way we look at it, people are suffering, and the suffering are waiting for closure to this whole saga. These girls will not be forgotten! No matter how long it takes to find them, no matter how much damage has been done to them, no matter how much those charged with finding them want us to forget, they will be found and freed D.V. (Dio Volente.)

(We will continue.)

Just as I begin to think that I have said all that there is to say about the abducted girls, something new happens. The news trending now is that the army wives are not only protesting their husbands deployment to the areas of Boko Haram’s activities, they are physically blocking the deployments. Their reason? They claim their husbands are not adequately armed to confront Boko Haram. We know this all along. The soldiers themselves have made that claim severally. These wives out in arms are adding salt to the injury, as we say in Nigeria.

Should they not be persuading their husbands to leave the force instead, to leave the force en masse as we already know that Nigeria has no Military? Should the president not be relieving some generals of their posts for holding Nigeria at ransom? This should be the chance for the president to begin to take serious actions against those in charge of keeping order, who have instead jettisoned that right. Those still sitting put and looting not only the money for defense, but also allowing Boko Haram to lay hands on the arms meant for the defense of the country.

I know I have talked about this before, and will very likely talk about it again and again. If only the powers that be are listening, if only those to whom this is addressed are paying attention, we will not be repeating ourselves. A word is enough for the wise, they say, but my people are not wise.

(We will continue.)

I am writing my 100th. blog today. And the girls have been missing for 110 days, disturbing isn’t it? I have scanned the news checking for news, any news of updates on the girls, but nothing. Again, let’s hope that no news is good news. My eyes are strained looking out for the girls, and my ears are plastered to the ground listening for news of them. Apart from the gradual spread of ebola, and the possible havoc it will deal on Nigerians, the only other news that is giving Nigerians sleepless nights now is the elections. In fact, I don’t think that Nigerians, especially the political circle, is worried at all about ebola. Knowing my people well, they probably think that they are immune to it, until it hits close to home.

The Chibok girls issue is definitely at the back burner right now. Even though, those on the hot seat, the executive body, who want to be re-elected, fail to see that their re-election depends on whether those girls return or not. This should be the concern of all of them, not only that of the president, especially the concern of those governors of the North who raised Boko Haram in the first place. Boko Haram is a set-back also for them.

The governors of the North, and the wealthy of the North, who have fattened themselves with money given for the development of their States, which instead, was appropriated for their own personal use, are now squirming, if they have over stayed, or maneuvering themselves back into the same positions, to stay put and continue to loot.

(We will continue.)

It is now becoming clear that the rumored attack on a certain northern political leader by Boko Haram, is not true after all. First, it was said that he criticized Boko Haram, and Boko Haram turned against him, their well known sponsor. If in the first place he criticized Boko Haram, it must be because his control of the group was slipping away from him, not because of their over bearing performance. Now, the same leader is turning around and accusing someone from the South for his attempted attack.

Whenever the northern leaders accuse the South for the woes that Boko Haram is visiting on the North, it makes these leaders look like pathetic cry babies. These are people who claim that they are born to rule. These same people have ruled, and ruled, and ruled, with nothing to show for it. These same people still want to continue to rule because they believe it is their right. They raised Boko Haram, supported and protected the group to use them to cow the rest of the nation, but the activities of Boko Haram backfired on them.

So today, the ills, the ravages, and the scourge of Boko Haram is not their fault but are brought about by the South, The South caused it all. The South caused it all by challenging their claim to the right to rule. Whatever happened to rotational rule and equal representation which are part of the constitution?

(We will continue.)

I know I cannot ignore commenting on ebola in Nigeria, but I have very carefully avoided doing so, not to shift focus on the abducted girls. I however, must say a word or two about it. The Nigerian government has already declared a national emergency on it, and knowing my people well, they will adhere to the letter to this emergency call. Everyone, I am sure must be taking every precautions for safety, even those far removed from the danger. No one wants to die, not from a decease no one understands, which has no cure.

Some of our traditional healers must be at work now concocting potions for the cure of ebola, but mostly now for the prevention, so our people are covered. The spread will be contained and a cure must surely be found. If this is an African problem, as they claim it is, then an African solution must be found for it.

Can anyone imagine the fear that will be whirling around the Boko Haram camp with this outbreak, especially the camp where the girls are being held? I was listening to one of the redeemed Boko Haram boys tell the story of how those cowardly fighters are afraid of death. They love to kill, but are afraid to die. They also hate to see their own die, but they love to snuff life out of whole families. From that story, we now know that the inhuman and bloody actions of Boko Haram is that of zombies. I have always known that they cannot be humans to do what they do.

(We will continue.)

Finally, President Jonathan is speaking out. Also finally, the Nigerian Military is beginning to look like a Military, and not like a group of ragamuffins we saw cowering away from Boko Haram, who rather than fight back, ran away leaving valuable arms and equipment to be looted by the miscreants. Today, we see a more determined and forceful army out in the trenches ready to battle Boko Haram. Because of this, we are beginning to hear less of the exploits of Boko Haram. I pray the Military do not relent. Just as I told the hunters of Nigeria, the Military should fight the fight first, and reap their reward later.

All those past complaints about hunger, and having inferior arms compared to Boko Haram should be put aside. We know the story. They should now try to recover all the arms that Boko Haram had looted from them, and those they gave to Boko Haram in exchange for whatever, and make sure that the stories surrounding the Military arms should not be allowed to repeat themselves.

Boko Haram cannot outnumber the Nigerian Military. That was a false claim. If any soldier fails to see Boko Haram as a national plague that must be uprooted with all possible force, then that soldier does not deserve to be called a soldier. Such soldiers should be dismissed from the Military, so also their commanders who have so far taken this whole tragedy lightly.

(We will continue.)

No news is good news, they say. Let’s hope that the reprieve from Boko Haram’s onslaughts is good news. We know they have played all their cards, and have nothing new to show. We know also they are losing more and more members by the day, and it is not easy to replace and train new members. And so, the no news of their daily marauding could only mean one thing. They must be in disarray and on the run. How far can they run with 217 girls in tow? This also tells us one thing. They must be desperate to off load those girls, only they do not know how or to whom.

The Nigeria Military seems to have waken up at last, and are now going after the miscreants with vengeance. Who will blame them? Those cowards have done so much damage to life and property that one wants to pay them back in their own coin once caught, but the Military must remember that they are a law enforcement body, and not a lawless body. No matter how much one wants to retaliate all of Boko Haram’s ills, they must show restraint. Those murderers will eventually get the justice they deserve.

I hope the countries bordering Nigeria are tightening up their borders, because now that Boko Haram seems to be on the run, they will be using those countries as safe heaven. Those countries must remember, Boko Haram has no permanent friends.

(We will continue.)