When Nigerians Protest for Kidnapped Children, Why Do Some People Feel Threatened?

By Beadysword Insight

More than 30 days after schoolchildren and teachers were kidnapped in Oyo State, a painful question remains: Why does it sometimes seem easier to attack protesters than to confront the criminals responsible for these tragedies?

This week, social media activist VeryDarkMan (VDM) joined concerned Nigerians in Oyo State to demand action over the abduction of schoolchildren and teachers who have spent weeks in captivity. The protest was not about politics. It was not about tribe. It was about children who should have been in classrooms but are instead being held by kidnappers in our bush, but some Oyo State youth objected to that movement..

The victims were taken during coordinated attacks on schools in Oyo State, a development that shocked many Nigerians because such large-scale school abductions were once considered more common in other parts of the country. Parents have continued to plead for help while communities live in fear.

What is most disturbing is that some people appear more interested in the identity of the protesters than in the fate of the kidnapped children.

Whether VDM is from Edo, Kano, Enugu, Lagos, or anywhere else should not be the issue. Whether the protesters came from Oyo, Benue, Delta, or Abuja should not matter. What should matter is that innocent children are still missing and families are still waiting for answers.

Nigeria’s insecurity does not ask for tribe before striking. Kidnappers do not stop victims on the road to ask whether they are Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Ijaw, or Tiv. Criminals attack Nigerians. Therefore, the response must also be Nigerian.

History shows that many of the gains recorded in society came because ordinary citizens refused to remain silent. When people speak up against injustice, insecurity, corruption, or government failure, they are performing a civic duty, not committing an offence.

The real enemies are not the young Nigerians carrying placards and demanding the rescue of children. The real enemies are those terrorising communities, attacking schools, destroying livelihoods, and keeping families in perpetual fear.

As Nigeria moves closer to another election cycle, citizens must be careful not to allow every public issue to be reduced to tribal sentiments. The kidnapping of children is not a Yoruba problem. It is not an Igbo problem. It is not a northern or southern problem.

It is a Nigerian problem.

And until every Nigerian sees it that way, the criminals will continue to benefit from our divisions while innocent families continue to suffer.

The message should be simple: Bring back the children. Secure the schools. Protect the people, not ask VDM if he’s from Oyo,

Everything else is a distraction.