She woke up in the middle of the night; the thoughts of home filled her disturbed heart. She cried for freedom from the innermost part of her being, but the fear of her abductors silenced her. How long more are we going to continue in this bondage, she thought. The warmth of her mother’s embrace she as missed, the instructions and corrections of her father constantly flashed through her mind. The noise of her siblings playing in the courtyard at the cool of the evening never ceases from her memories. She has really missed home. Nights upon nights in the middle of nowhere, the only thing we hear are deep silence in the night and wicked voices of our abductors in the morning.
How can they abandon us to suffer like this for so long, is anyone coming to rescue us? How much longer do we have to wait? We have lost touch with our physical environment. The thought of trying to escape is not even an option for us. What if our kidnappers; gruesome and wicked human beings; catches us in the process of escaping? We might be killed in the process. Now, a whole year has gone, and still the hope of going home becomes slimmer and slimmer every day.
How did we even get here in the first place? They told us education is good. They said it is the safest way out of poverty. They even say education we liberate us from the bondage of the mind. And so, we decided to give it a try. But see where our pursuit of knowledge has landed us. We were abducted while trying to be free. Our own pursuit of knowledge has not freed us, but rather put us in physical bondage. Perhaps, if we were not seeking to be educated, and had stayed in the comfort of our parents homes, maybe we would not have been abducted. Our kidnappers constantly say to us that Western education is forbidden. They say the West corrupt our minds through westernization. Now here we find ourselves in this bondage. Maybe our abductors are right anyway. *deep sigh*
We heard there is a new President-Elect. Our abductors never cease to talk about him. Is there any hope that we would be rescued soon? Will the incoming administration fail us like the outgoing administration? There are times I think of that primary role of government of securing lives and properties of the citizenry. I still remember very well how my government teacher used to stress this particular role of government to us in class. But this was not the case when I and my other friends were abducted a year ago. We were left all alone in the middle of the night with little or no security protection. We all were innocent girls, defenceless. And the assailants came and took us all away. Oh, what a shame on this government.
When will this torture end? Our abductors constantly take advantage of us. Some of us don’t even know what time of the day it is anymore. We can barely remember our birthdays. In the coming days, we can only hope the new administration will come to our rescue. While it may seem that the whole country has moved on, and forgotten about us, the remaining 219 of us in this lion’s den have not, our parents have not either. We cannot sincerely wait any longer, we want to go home. These are the thoughts of our heart.

Obayomi Abiola Benjamin

@abibeo_oba

Views expressed are solely that of author and does not represent the views of www.omojuwa.com nor its associates