Olu Ojedokun speaks on Dapchi Girls

The Red Carpet of Dapchi

Many observers consider the manner of the recent but reluctant foray of President Muhammadu Buhari into Dapchi, the North Eastern town bearing the trauma of recent kidnappings his most insensitive. In the midst of grief of inexplicable depth with families coping with the loss of girls as young as 10 and with a single family suffering the loss of three daughters, a red carpet was flung in the path of Mr. President who sauntered across it in oblivion to its symbolism. In the whole public relations fiasco and a misreading of protocol, his handlers and hirelings allowed the President to assume comparison to the title character in the play, Agamemnon written in 458 BC. 

Just as in the play he visited the town of so much anguish and mystery, stepping off his chariot with his aides in tow on to a red path, trotting on with the following refrain and words hanging over his cap nestled comfortably on his head:

‘Now my beloved, step down from your chariot, and let not your foot, my lord, touch the Earth. Servants, let there be spread before the house he never expected to see, where Justice leads him in, a crimson path.’

But unlike our President, Agamemnon, in the knowledge that only gods walk on and in such luxury, responds with trepidation:

'I am a mortal, a man; I cannot trample upon these tinted splendors without fear thrown in my path.'

Whilst Agamemnon caught and navigated the mood of his times President Buhari floundered helplessly and glided through the red carpet with insensitivity.

To the well versed observer a red carpet is traditionally used to mark the route taken by heads of state on ceremonial and formal occasions, and has in recent decades been extended to use by VIPs and celebrities at formal events. But this was an occasion drenched in solemnity entwined with trauma and exposed to raw bewilderment. The handlers of the President were expected to appreciate, discern and respond to the mood on the ground but as so often, they failed.

What even makes it worse is that this visit occurred in the face of evidence of the incompetence of our security forces. Amnesty on 20^th March now claims Nigeria was warned before the Boko Haram abduction. It suggests that Nigerian military ignored repeated warnings about the movements of Boko Haram fighters before they kidnapped 110 schoolgirls on 19^th February. It is difficult for such briefings not to have crossed the desk of Mr. President.

It appears for this administration no lessons have been learnt from Chibok and it is business as usual. The paradigm change many thought would follow the President into office has become a mere wishful thought, cloaking what was always an illusion of change.