The soubriquet, OGSS, refers to Owerri Girls’ Secondary School- a secondary school that is owned by the Catholic Church in Owerri, Imo State of Nigeria. The label OGSS 5 refers to the five students of OGSS who were crushed to death in high noon on March 5th, 2005 opposite Assumpta Catholic Cathedral, Owerri. We shall come to the details in due course. The news of the abduction of over 200 female students of Government Girls’ Secondary School, Borno State on the night of April 14, has since swept through the nooks and crannies of the globe like a harmattan wind. The Chibok Girls’ abduction put in proper perspective what the Canadian Professor, Abraham McLuhan, had in mind when he painted a scenario of what he called the Planetary Village(aka Global Village) .The bond of unity of humanity over the Chibok episode shows that what we have today is a global family, no longer a global village. It is a rarity for humankind to ever come together in a show of esprit de corps in a frantic bid to fight a common cause. As humanity is held together in a gossamer-thin bond on the Chibok brouhaha, one can also see what the renowned management scholar, Henri Fayol, actually had in mind when he listed Esprit de Corps as one of the 14 Principles of Management.
In discussing the issue of global collaboration to fight a common cause, one must not forget the like of Bob Geldof, an Irish citizen, who organized the “Live Aid” concert that was held in July of 1985 in the aftermath of a BBC documentary on Ethiopia. Bob Geldof arrived Ethiopia and found children living in the worst living conditions of squalor, starvation and privation. Overwhelmed by what he saw, he wrote the song “Do they know it’s Christmas?” for the children of Ethiopia. The Live Aid concert was held on May 31st, 2005 at Wembley Stadium in the UK and JFK Stadiums in Philadelphia raising millions to fight poverty and hunger in Africa with special emphasis on Ethiopia. On a related note, the ongoing global collaboration in honour of the abducted Chibok Girls is a nostalgic reminder of the original 1985 Charity Song” We are the World” which was waxed in celebration of ‘USA for Africa” a charity show to provide funds for the poor and underprivileged in the war/famine ravaged communities in Africa. It was a pop gospel music which was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie. Yes, “WE ARE THE WORLD” was a monster hit, a great album. It was recorded January 28, 1985 and released March7, 1985.
On the ongoing crusade for the release of the abducted Chibok girls, one must not fail to commend the roles played by media giants all over the world. Some of them include Cable Network News(CNN), British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC),Voice of America(VOA) and their local counterparts in bringing the sad realities of the Chibok saga to the rooms of the global families in the nooks and crannies of the world. However, special commendation should be extended to the gallant women of CHIBOK who through their outpouring of grief, frustration and love for their abducted daughters drew the attention of the entire world to the theatre of the absurd which the Boko Haram menace has since become.
The motherly role of the Chibok women contrasts sharply with the reaction of the women in Imo State when five girls of OGSS(OGSS 5) were crushed to death on March 4th, 2005.Since that tragedy, the women in Imo State and the members of the Nigerian Union of Teachers((NUT) have manifested an abysmal indifference to the incident. While the stakeholders in the education sector such as the Imo State Government, the Nigerian Union of Teachers(NUT) and the parents have turned a blind eye to the tragedy, the families of the OGSS 5 and about ten others who suffered serious injuries have been left to stew in their source. Even the Catholic Church which is the proprietor of the school has maintained stoic silence on the travails of the O.G.S.S 5 and their surviving families and the popular sodalities in THE CHURCH(i.e. Catholic Church) such as the Catholic Women Organization(CWO), the Catholic Men Organization(CMO), the Mary League and several others have maintained a conspiracy of silence on this dastardly act. Perhaps, more surprising is that the fiery cleric, His Grace, Archbishop Amarachi Obinna, the Metropolitan of the Owerri Catholic Archdiocese, appears to have lost his voice on this issue. It is not known whether this perfunctory approach to the O.G.S.S 5 episode is deliberate or caused by the virus of amnesia. For the revered and fiery Archbishop who is an institution in Igboland, as a well as a the proprietor of OGSS, Owerri, the case of the OGSS 5 is a classic case of ‘Physician Heal Thyself”. Perhaps, an uninformed person may wonder why the stakeholders in the education sector and Imo women are expected to protest the death of the five students of Owerri Girls’ Secondary School(OGSS5). Some others may ask:”What is special about their death”? A good poser but listen to the circumstances that culminated in the death of the OGSS 5.
What happened was that on that fateful day, Friday, March 4th 2005, the students of Owerri Girls’ Secondary School, Owerri(OGSS) had concluded the day’s activities in the school and were returning to their various families to meet their parents and siblings as they used to do prior to this tragedy. As the bevy of girls headed towards the city centre , they were oblivious of the danger which lurked in their rear: there was a scuffle between the driver of a big trailer lorry and the members of Imo State Task Force on Parking and Obstruction. The members of the Task Force were struggling to take over control of the steering from the driver but he refused to surrender. It was in this melee to take control of the trailer that the driver lost control and the lorry rammed into the school girls crushing five of them to death instantly while about 10 others were seriously injured. The girls who died in that accident are not mere statistics; they were human beings with flesh and blood like every other person. Those who died were (1)Adaobi Mbagwu, (2) Chiamaka Immaculata Nwoha, (3) Chizoma Agoha, (4) Success Chilaka and(5) Ezinne Ugwushe. About 10 others were seriously wounded and might have suffered some irreversible deformity.
If members of the NUT Imo teachers could organize a rally to draw attention to the plight of the Chibok girls and Imo women from various walks of life also organized a rally to show solidarity with the Chibok girls, why did they maintain a conspiracy of silence over the travails of the OGSS 5 and their families since 2005.If the First Lady of the State could organize rallies in honour of the abducted Chibok girls, why has none of our Imo First Ladies given a scintilla of interest in the OGSS 5 tragedy since 2005.
When the tragedy struck in March 2005, a panel was set up to advise the government on how to handle the matter. The panel which was under the auspices of the Ministry of Education concluded its investigations and recommended that N250,ooo should be paid to each of the families of the victims of that saga to assist them to bury the dead girls. The families of each of the ten wounded girls were to be given a compensation of N100,000. The State Government rejected the recommendation and preferred to take to litigation. The suit which was a matter between the State Government and the other groups lingered for so long until it was adjourned Sine Die(indefinitely) on account of lack of interest on the part of the government. The Presiding Judge adjourned the case indefinitely when she was told by the Government lawyer that the then Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice ,Chief Soronnadi Njoku, said that he was not interested in prosecuting the case any longer. Embarrassed by this revelation, the Honourable Judge adjourned the case indefinitely as she wondered why the government was indifferent to such a case that had a lot of emotional content. This indefinite adjournment took place when Barrister Soronnadi Njoku was the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice. Since then, the suit lies in abeyance on account of lack of interest and diligent prosecution by the State Government.
In a GSM chat with the former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Barrister Soronnadi Njoku, on the story that he did not have interest in prosecuting the case of the OGSS 5, this is what he said: “The Ministry has rules guiding its operations. The Director, Public Prosecution(DPP) has a subsisting authority to prosecute cases from the courts without seeking the approval of the Attorney General .It is only when he chooses not to prosecute that he can refer the file to the AG for review. On such occasion, the AG will review the reasons for the DPP’s decision and then take a decision either in support of the opinion of the DPP or not. Throughout my tenure as the Attorney General(AG) and Commissioner for Justice, there was no time the file of the OGSS5 was sent to me for review. Since the DPP did not forward such a file or seek my opinion on his decision to either prosecute or not, it therefore means that I could not have given orders that the OGSS 5 case should not be prosecuted”. In view of the apparent cogent and convincing explanation of Barrister Soronnadi Njoku, I feel he should be let off the hook. His explanation may also be the reason why my open memo which was addressed to the incumbent Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, `Barrister Amachukwu Nwachukwu Umeh, was ignored as it was not given the benefit of any response. The memo which was posted on the internet on the 28th October,2013 can be read online by Goggling the headline:”Remembering the OGSS 5 and others: An appeal to the Attorney General of Imo State”. The memo was also forwarded to the e-mail address of the Public Relations Officer(PRO) of the Ministry of Justice. So, it would appear that the failure of the Attorneys-General and Commissioners for Justice in IMO State to intervene in this stalemate appears to be in the system and not on the office of the Attorney General.
However, the policy makers in the Ministry of Justice may wish to review the rule to take cognizance of the fact that delegation of authority is not abdication of responsibility. However, if the victims of that accident were children of political thieftains /chieftains and big men in Imo State, the matter would have been summarily and satisfactorily prosecuted. A good example is the case of the kidnap of the daughter of a former Deputy Governor in Imo State. That case which came up long after the OGSS 5 saga has since been diligently prosecuted and the convicted culprits have since served out their prison sentences; yet, the case of the OGSS 5 which preceded the kidnap of the Deputy Governor’s daughter remains abandoned. The only reason is that the dead children are of poor parentage; they were seen as logs of wood. Neither the women groups in IMO State, the various sodalities in the Catholic Church- the proprietors of the school- nor the Nigerian Union of Teachers(NUT) took notice of their existence. Little wonder , we are told in Shakespeare that “When beggars die, there are no comets seen. The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes”. It is even more provocative that these are the same Imo women who trooped out to the streets of Owerri municipality a few weeks ago in a disgraceful act of sweeping off the footprints/footsteps of President Jonathan and his PDP members when they held a public rally in the Dan Anyiam stadium, Owerri; I am referring to the All Progressives Congress( APC) women in Imo State. This is provocative, more so, when one recalls that the leader of the APC women in that BroomsGate Scandal was the Commissioner of Women Affairs in the PDP when the OGSS 5 were crushed to death on that ghastly accident of March,4th,2005.When I met the Principal of OGSS to comment on this issue, she said that she had no comment.
If the Chibok women could whip up global support for the Chibok Girls, why did the women of Imo State not put in a word for the OGSS 5? If the family of the Boko Haram leader, Mohammed Yusuf, was paid a humongous compensation of N100 million on account of the alleged extra-judicial murder by Federal Government security men, why were the families of the OGSS 5 not paid adequate compensation since they were crushed to death as a result of the lawlessness and lackadaisical attitude of the men of “Imo State Task Force on Parking and Obstruction”? In the same vein, why did the various governments in Imo State since 2005 turn a blind eye to diligent prosecution of the case? There is a need for those concerned with this matter to reopen the files and redress the barefaced dichotomy and selective justice on this issue. Aside diligent prosecution of the suit and the payment of commensurate compensation, the girls should also be immortalized by building some legacy project in OGSS or in Imo State which will be named after them. When these steps are taken, the OGSS 5 will rest in eternal peace while their families will be encouraged to have the fortitude to bear the loss.
In a manner of speaking, the Chibok girls could be described as lucky in the sense that the world have surged to their honour and rescue. Their OGSS 5 counterparts in IMO State were not as lucky as they were simply buried like common criminals and forgotten by the various stakeholders in Imo State and ,above all, the world did not even hear of their travails. All in all, the conspiracy of silence of the women of Imo State as well as the members of the Nigerian Union of Teachers(NUT) and the State government over the OGSS 5 calamity is a blunder too many.
John Mgbe
johnmgbe@yahoo.com
