“Junketing” Buhari silent as Kano schoolgirls die in hostel fire, 25 escape with injuries
Nigerian authorities are yet to unearth the cause of a fire that killed seven schoolgirls and injured 25 others in Kano on Sunday night.
Officials say the girls died in a stampede while trying to escape after the fire broke out in their hostel.
The fire occurred at Government Girls Secondary (GSS) School, Jogana, 20 kilometers from the city of Kano.
The name of the school brings a sorrowful reminder of the whereabouts of over 200 girls Boko Haram terrorists abducted from Government Seconday School from Chibok, Borno State in 2014.
We recall that Boko Haram terrorists, before taking the schoolgirls away while the Nigerian military failed to act, set their hostel ablaze.
While the fate of the Chibok girls remain uncertain, that of the “Kano 7” is sealed. They are dead. The 25 teenage girls who escaped with injuries must be thanking their stars.
We are unable to establish any connection between both tragedies.
President Muhammadu Buhari, who has so far failed to rescue the Chibok girls, is yet to address the country on the latest schoolgirl tragedy.
The Bring Back Our Girls Group (BBOG), which held the past administration accountable to the Nigerian people, also seemed to have soften its stance since Buhari resumed at Aso Rock.
Buhari, who has visited at least 13 countries since May 29, is currently in France where he told the audience at the ongoing summit on global warming to help save the Lake Chad basin.
Buhari’s frequent foreign trips, which his media aides said are not “fun trips,” has earned him the title of “Junketer-In-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
Nigerians will hope the president returns this December to fulfil his promise to route the deadliest terrorist organation in the world, Boko Haram; and rescue the Chibok girls.
Junket: /ˈdʒʌŋkɪt/
“An extravagant trip or celebration, particularly one enjoyed by government officials at public expense.”
Buhari’s silence on the Kano tragedy is cray! It’s heart-wrenching that Nigeria is not like the United States where the President will address the nation every time an American life is at stake.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan refused to speak on the Chibok tragedy till it became an international embarrassment.
With his silence on the Kano tragedy, and the various hardships Nigerians are going through, Buhari seems to be no different from the man Nigerians kicked out for “change.”.
