October 1, naturally, marks one of the most significant days in the history of our beloved Nigeria. Not only did we gain our independence from the exploitative British empire that day in 1960, six years prior, our heroes past had also managed to score huge points with the Lyttleton Constitution and it’s firm entrenchment of the now ubiquitous term, “true federalism”

Again, three years after 1960, our super heroes past kicked the Queen to the curb and stopped praying God to save her. We had officially become the Federal Republic of Nigeria, complete with full powers of self-determination – no Queen, no Britain, at least on paper.

And so it was settled, October 1 was to become ‘The Day’ for our beloved Nigeria – federalism (the true kind), Independence and a Republic onto herself. 57 years on, we are still at it. Granted, with some threats from the mid-year craze of May 29 and June 12.

Curiously, nothing significant managed to spill into the day after, October 2. In America, a good number of people celebrate July 4th two days earlier because that’s when the deed actually happened. Anyone who threw fireworks between the 2nd and 4th of July could easily be forgiven.

But not Nigeria. Everything starts and ends on the 1st and except on days like this when the bank holiday falls on the 2nd, the green and white celebratory attires rarely ever make it to the next sunrise. It was always October 1st and done. Until 5 years ago.

5 years ago, on the 2nd October, 2012 when gunmen in Adamawa, not respecting the lazy sanctity of the 2nd of October in Nigeria, killed no less than 25 students and residents and some other residents of the town.
Weeks earlier, the Nigerian Army has carried out an operation during which 156 people suspected to have ties with the insurgency group, Boko Haram had been rounded up and arrested in the middle of a four-day state-wide curfew. Naturally, everyone had Boko haram pegged as the culprit.

But it turned out the students may have orchestrated the massacre against their own as a result of some internal political rivalry. There had been a hotly contested Students’ Union election the week before and eye witnesses told the Police that the gunmen called out the names of their victims before shooting and/or stabbing them.

A week later, Premium Times reported that a representative of Boko Haram had denied the involvement of his group in the killings, saying if Boko Haram wanted to attack a school, they would have targeted structures and not students.
Here we are, five years later, the case, very cold, and the 2nd of October now forever marred by that tragic incident.

Mubi is certainly not the only incident of violence against Nigerian students. There has been ALUU, killings in Jos, Boko Haram attacks that happened too close to the gown and even State-ordered violence against young school goers (LAUTECH comes to mind). But none of those other killing ever happened so close to Independence – enough to remind us, annually now, of Nigeria’s codependency on violence, especially against its helpless citizens.

We wish the souls that got snatched on October 2, 2012 continued rest.

Roqeebah

Creative mind. Enthusiast. Learner. Multipotentialite. And here, an assistant editor.