Nigeria's 37th state!

In primary school,there were three things you don't dare come to the assembly ground without knowing;First was your multiplication table a.k.a times table,Second was the national pledge and Third was your states and capital.
Woe betide you and Mr Oshunkoya's koboko,in no particular order I dare say,if you were found wanting in any of these three.
I,as the unbelievably smart kid that I was.............True............ask my mum!
I always found the times table and the national pledge to be a bit of a breeze but states and capitals????Just never could the hang of it.

And I wonder why?

It was a really traumatic period.
Mind you,when I was in primary school Nigeria had just 30 states;it's not these days when every man,his nuclear family,ten cousins and their dogs have a state to themselves.
So I truly have no idea how kids cope with 36 states these days.
Anyway,on one sunny day in the early 90's under the ebelebo tree a.k.a fruit tree a.k.a almond tree(depending on what part of town you stayed) while pretending to do my home work under the not so watchful gaze of my Dad,it hit me!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Like a bolt out of the blue,I realised that all(well that's what I thought at the time)the northern states had their capitals named after the states.
Not until much later and a good dozen koboko lashes after,did I realise that because the people of Kano,Kaduna and Sokoto and a couple of others were too lazy and unimaginative(I can just visualise the head of the Capital naming committee all those years ago telling the rest "You know what folks?We've been here a good 4hrs,I don't know if you guys have much else to do at home but I've got a new 12 year old bride I'd love to get back to.So can we just wrap this  meeting up and just name the damn capital Kano?Koh!)

Daughter?.........Sister?...............Wife!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

,the good people of Borno had to be the same.
Maiduguri.
That's the capital of Borno.
That ancient city in the north-east of the country.
The once quiet and beautiful(#eyeofthebeholderthingz) city has now become a killing field where men,women and children have been gunned down and blown up in their hundreds in the last 2years and any semblance of law and order seems to have taken a tumble into Lake Chad.
Until a couple of days back when President Jonathan took the bull by the horn and announced on national T.V,looking all presidential and authoritative,standing tall........................................Hey Jude,was he standing during the address?..........What?...........You're not sure?........You did not bother watching too..................Damn!
Anyways,President Jo did what had become inevitable and declared a state of emergency,giving the military sweeping powers over the security in the state and three others.
It simply means if you as much as stare at a soldier patrolling the streets of Maiduguri with the wrong eyeball,you could be asked to frog-jump from Borno to Niger Republic!

Niggers be keeping their eyes to themselves henceforth!

If you ask me(I'm  guessing you didn't but I'm still gonna tell you anyway),it's the damn right move!
A tad too late but the right move anywhere.
How do you deal with an amorphous organization?
How do you deal with an insurgency that's been allowed to fester for so long?
How do you protect unguarded and unwatched borders?
I'm sure if I knew the answers to these questions I'd be sending this post from my guard post in Maiduguri,Nigerian Army issued Kalashnikov in hand,instead of from my air-conditioned office in Lagos.
Regardless though,a nation has to protect it's territorial integrity and sovereign state by all means and at times at a very high cost.
My thoughts and prayers go to all the men and women in the armed forces.
It's a honourable and unbelievably brave thing to put your life on the line for your country.
Even if it's one like Nigeria!