Children’s Day of gloom

NIGERIA was shrouded in gloom as it marked the 2026 Children’s Day on May 27. A day meant to celebrate and inspire the leaders of tomorrow, nurture their creativity, strengthen their dreams, and prepare them for the future, was instead overshadowed by mourning, fear, and despair. As children across the country celebrated, 88 of their peers remained in captivity, abducted by terrorists in Oyo and Borno states on May 15. On that day, Boko Haram terrorists stormed Mussa Primary and Junior Secondary School in Askira/Uba Local Government Area of Borno State and kidnapped 42 students and pupils. While Borno reeled from the attack, gunmen struck in Oriire LGA of Oyo State, invading Baptist Nursery and Primary School, Yawota; Community Grammar School, Esiele; and L.A. Primary School, abducting 46 children and teachers, including toddlers. The assistant headmaster of L.A. Primary School, Joel Adesiyan, and a commercial motorcyclist were killed during the operation. The school’s mathematics teacher, Michael Oyedokun, was later beheaded in captivity. Thus, on Children’s Day, after 13 agonising days in captivity, 88 Nigerian children, including two-year-olds and four-year-olds, who should be safely under their mothers’ care, remained trapped among bloodthirsty terrorists, with guns pointed at innocent heads, languishing in deplorable conditions deep inside forests. They endure chilling weather, torrential rains, scorching heat, blood-sucking mosquitoes, and lurking reptiles. It is a national tragedy of monumental proportions. The cries of these children should haunt every level of government and governance. They are indelible scars on the country’s security architecture and a stain on Nigeria’s collective conscience. More than two weeks after their abduction, the government’s response has been heavy on rhetoric and light on action. There has been no visible, coordinated, and workable strategy to flush out these criminals and rescue innocent children whose only “crime” is seeking an education that could one day benefit their country. Meanwhile, the grief-stricken and helpless families of the kidnapped have largely been abandoned to their fate. Media reports indicate that the terrorists also killed two people who attempted to deliver ransom to them. These senseless killings and the government’s lethargic response have shredded the theme and spirit of the 2026 Children’s Day celebration: “Future Now: Promoting Inclusion for Every Child.” For these children, hope has become hollow, and President Bola Tinubu’s pledge to build “a nation where every child can dream boldly,