ALMAJIRIS, WHOSE CHILDREN ARE THEY ANYWAY?

Icheoku says one of the things that cost President Jonathan  his 2015 reelection bid was his decision to empower Northern Nigeria's vassals, the  almajiris, by trying to educate them. Suddenly trying to change an age-long, intentionally institutionalized statues-quo, which has the propensity of radically altering a class system of 'haves and have-nots' and which will adversely impact on the feudalistic overlords hold on power, is an existential threat to these overlords and they reacted to abate the source of their worries. A well calculating president would have known that he was walking a path to perdition when he moved to educate these urchins in order to enlighten and embolden them to challenge entrenched feudalistic institutions lording it over them.  

But with power, it never runs in fright; instead it fought back and the president paid for it dearly. Northern feudalistic lords, fearful that their vice-hold on power in their region is being threatened by President Jonathan's use of education to empower these almajiris, ganged up and ensured that the president was shoved out of Aso Rock?  Now mission accomplished, the future of the Goodluck Jonathan Almajiri schools is now as uncertain as it is most likely to go down the pipe-drain. Power does not yield, not so easily. These Northern power stakeholders, who cannot afford to see their 'hewers of wood and fetchers of water' rise up to question their authority and continuous hold on power, struck to ensure that their future is well secured. Today the president who wanted a brighter future for the street dwellers of Northern Nigeria has been shoved aside, a matter made worse because the same bums he was trying to help were used against him as they voted in droves for the opposition candidate and against their interest.

However, the 2015 presidential election campaign brought  this very important issue to the fore-consciousness of Nigerians. What created this social problem of millions of children roaming about the streets of Northern Nigeria without much of any parental care,  guidance and direction? Outgoing First Lady Dame Patience bravely, publicly outed this societal anomaly while campaigning in Cross River State when she said "Our people no dey born children wey dem no dey count. Our men no dey born children throway for street. We no dey like the people from that side." Translation, while Southern Nigerians are responsible parents and take care of family business of raising their children, Northern Nigerians could care less about the welfare of their children, the reason for the prevalence of these street urchins in their region. Icheoku says admittedly, truth is always bitter to the outed; who instead of addressing the observed shortcomings, always fights to cover it up.  Otherwise, query if the observation of the First Lady was not a truism because there would not have been this pandemic cases of parent-less children roaming about the North had their parents taken care of their parenting duties in the first place. 

So amplifying the First Lady's observation, Icheoku asks who are parents of these street urchins in the North, for whose emancipation through education, President Jonathan unknowing engineered his own downfall? A Northern Hausa/Fulani culture that have men busily impregnating under-age young girls and abandoning them to their fate with children they cannot themselves take care of, is rather a very repugnant and reprehensible culture that needs a total make-over and overhaul. Icheoku emphasis that it is very mean spirited and quite unflattering too for any man to impregnate a girl and abandon her with his baby, especially a hapless girl with no means of supporting herself and the baby. Why bring children into this world when you do not love them or care enough for their welfare, only to pretend that your culture allows such callousness to thrive? What type of retrogressive culture fosters this anomaly, assuming these Northern Nigeria debit-daddies are right? Icheoku says it is the same crappy cultural argument that this same people make for their sexual abuse of minor girls, many of whom are younger than twelve years old and barely old enough to be their grand daughters, when they forcibly take them into concubinage to procreate unseasonably.  

So ask yourselves Nigerians, must such inhuman treatment of these Nigerian young girls that beget these almajiris continue unchecked? If it must continue, why then must the more civilized and more responsible Southerners continue to have a shared commonalities with their Northern counterpart unrepentantly vested in their old vestiges? A people who selectively chooses what law to abide by, depending on their peculiar idiosyncrasy? Why is it that these repugnant acts are okay by them and is tolerated by other Nigerians and in this modern day Nigeria of twenty first century? Icheoku maintains that the culture that foists this almajiri problem for the entire Nigeria to bear is not a good culture. It should therefore be immediately outlawed with stiff penalties prescribed for offending fathers including possible imprisonment if they renege on their obligation to provide support for their children. Enough of this political correctness and needless sensitivities that usually look the other way while this societal menace metastasizes in the North, leading to all manners of sociological problems in the country. Icheoku is not a fan of Dame Patience, but for calling out these Northern Nigerian debit-dads, she displayed uncanny courage and a motherly true love for children and she should be commended rather than chastised. Almajiris, Icheoku asks, who are your daddies?