As if that was not damning enough, “Vanguard” newspaper of the same day carried on its front page, the following headline: “we’ll get mastermind of 31 Nigerians sold into slavery in Burkina Faso – Governor Masari.
“Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State (and former Speaker of the House of Representatives) has vowed to arrest the prime suspect behind the trafficking and selling of 31 Nigerian citizens, from Katsina and Zamfara states, into slavery in Burkina Faso. The governor stated this when he received 23 of the victims, who were returned to the state through the rescue mission initiated by the state government. Governor Masari said two out of the 31 were agents of the prime suspect and for fear of unknown, refused to come with others while the remaining six opted to come back on their own.
According to him, “we are working on the little information we have about him (the prime suspect) but with the arrival of the victims, I am sure we are going to have as much
information to enable us track him down. We would allow the security agencies debrief them to enable us to know the identity of the person who sold them into slavery.”
On why they were 23 instead of 31 that returned, the governor said: According to them, six of them have some money on them so they decided to come back on their own. So, whether they are back or not, we don’t know because we don’t have their names.
Nevertheless, (regardless of the rage, outrage and in-range) which has engulfed our nation, we cannot but implore the students of Dowen College to commit themselves to a purposeful life – no drugs, no excess/over indulgence and the pursuit of genuine happiness
The other two refused to come because there is some suspicion that they are allies of the person who sold them. So, they are afraid of coming back home. That is why we ended up with bringing 23 of them.”
The governor could not control his emotion, after seeing an elderly man among the victims. He said: “What is surprising is I’ve seen an old man among them. What is he going to do for you? Hard labour, slavery in faraway Burkina Faso? But we will continue to liaise with our foreign missions in situations like this and see what we can do to return all Nigerians back home.”
At the current session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, a former Ambassador of the United States of America summed up the Nigerian situation as follows: “While the military and the politicians broke the windows, the civil servants swept-up the broken glass while the judiciary, the press and the professionals looked the other way.”
For good measure, he recalled the occasion when Alhaji Nuhu Aliyu, former Assistant Inspector General of Police won election into the Senate, his maiden speech was as follows: “Here we are in the hallowed chamber of the Senate but how come some of those I detained in Alagbon Police Station, Ikoyi, Lagos for drug trafficking; “419 fraud”; contract scams etc. are here?” All hell broke loose!!
Nevertheless, (regardless of the rage, outrage and in-range) which has engulfed our nation, we cannot but implore the students of Dowen College to commit themselves to a purposeful life – no drugs, no excess/over indulgence and the pursuit of genuine happiness. At Harvard University, the most popular course offered there is taught by Professor Tal Ben- Shahar, the “Professor of Happiness”. The course is titled “Positive Psychology”.
The course teaches the secret to living a happy life. At its peak, close to 1,000 students would pack into his lecture hall twice a week to hear his words of wisdom. He has since gone on to write several bestselling books including “Happier” and “The Pursuit of Perfection” and now travels the world giving seminars on leadership, happiness and gratitude.
According to him: “Expressing gratitude on a regular basis – writing what you’re grateful for before going to bed, can help us become not just happier and more optimistic, but also more generous, kinder toward others, and interestingly, physically healthier.”
Fortunately, the government has announced that it wants to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty. This is in addition to tackling abandoned projects which are all over the country. There is a huge role awaiting the products of Dowen College provided they do not confine themselves to medicine, engineering, architecture, accountancy, pharmacy etc. a fresh spirit of adventure should enable them to widen their career choices to include public service, politics, military, police, intelligence service, entertainment, tourism, fashion, art and culture.
(Last in the series of address delivered at Dowen College, on 7th October 2019)
BASHORUN JK RANDLE
