TODAY, it’s your turn, my dearly beloved reader, to write this column. I have gone through my file and inbox to bring out all your letters and to publish some of them. They are simply too many to be published. Thank you. Your letters are so encouraging. Sometimes when I get discouraged, I pick your letters and they give me the strength and the impetus to carry on writing. Some letters can be nasty—it comes with the territory. But overall, your letters are sweet. Keep them coming. Today, I celebrate you. These are some of your letters:
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Dear Mike, you piece on Amina’s Little Boko Haram as always is well crafted and touching if it is true—the whole story does not fit. But pray Mike, how many Igbo girls were taken as sex slaves during the Biafran War? As a toddler, I recall my eldest sister taking refuge in the ceiling to avoid being captured and taken away by the then Nigerian soldiers. After the war, many of them returned with kids. To this day, some of our sisters from Igboland are still married to those soldiers and never returned. Where is the justice for all those Igbo teenagers taken away as sex slaves by the Nigerian soldiers? Let the reparation begin. Uche, 08039407402
Dear Mike, I found your headline Amina’s Little Boko Haram annoying, insulting and provocative. Yunusa, ABU, Zaria, 08039718614
Your write up titled Amina’s Little Boko Haram is very emotional and touching. I haven’t read something like this in a very long time. Bravo. Njoku Raymond, 08137737913
Your Amina’s Little Boko Haram lacks sensitivity on the part of Amina’s predicament. It’s wicked and a threat to an innocent child’s future. I shared your pains when you lost your friend Dimgba Igwe but I am disappointed with this topic you chose to write on. You must write another column apologising to Amina. Adeolu Victor Williams. 08185889116
Wonderful Rwanda true story. Wonderful Chibok false story. Chibok remains a scam. 07037537582
Why you won’t win a Pulitzer
Dear Mike Awoyinfa, Your piece on Amina and her little baby is good but why it may not win a Pulitzer is that you wrote more about Mutuze than Amina. All we know about Amina is her smile. Julius Neple, UNIJOS, 08094482848
Mike, please, please, let us stop pitying Amina and regarding her baby as a child of sorrow. Instead, let us encourage Amina to raise her baby in peace without being stigmatised. After all, this baby has fifty per cent of her blood. Giving her our support and blessing will help erase the Boko Haram stuff from her memory. Lady Judith Oby Ugwueke, UNN, Nsukka, 08037753623
The “Occupy Nigeria Group” and other civil societies and Human Rights Organisations should intensify campaigns on the need for government to take over the bringing up of any child identified as a product of Chibok abducted girls to at least control the population of these mass killers. Francis Nzo Nguh, 08033359457
Dear Sir, I decided to write you after reading your piece on Amina’s Little Boko Haram. Two days ago, news broke out that the child celebrity, Ese Oruru gave birth to a baby girl. And the father, Yunusa now in jail named the child Fatima. Everyone I spoke to wants the father of the baby, Yunusa, to rot in hell. My plea that he did not rape her was met by lawyers with their byline that since the girl was under aged, it is statutory rape. Can’t argue about that. When I pleaded that little Fatima needed her father to grow up like other children, I was reminded there are many other fathers in prison. When I pleaded that Yunusa has already suffered in jail, I was told that he is awaiting trial and he has not even started.
I worry that we are using mob justice on Yunusa without caring a hoot about the little baby. I don’t think Yunusa is innocent. The media mob and media justice he has suffered baffles me. Most youths do get involved in misbehaviour. Is it not better to correct the youth than destroy him forever? Why is nobody interested in little Fatima? Why are we so vengeful? What future do we want for the trio of Ese, Yunusa and Fatima? Whether we like it or not, Fatima is free to claim to be from Kano or Bayelsa.
Can’t we do something to regularise the ugly situation? I just wish all three would live in harmony rather than the acrimony we are sowing. Quite unlike Dele Olojede’s Rwandan experience, both Ese and Yunusa have not rejected Fatima. In particular, we hear only the anger of Ese’s parents. The angry parents are not even reprimanded for laxity in the upbringing of their beloved daughter. In all these, Ese is silent. And very loudly silent. –Saka Azimazi
Bravo for Dimgba Igwe @ 60
Thanks so much for the NIGHT OF TRIBUTES TO DIMGBA IGWE @ 60. You are indeed a true friend. For celebrating Dimgba, God will celebrate and help you as you prayed. Chidiebere Anyaoha, 08035384626
“Time to act like Dimgba Igwe.” That is the kindest tribute I have ever come across. I pray that when I leave the stage, someone will be kind enough to write such stuff about me. Peter Onujeme, Lokoja, 08037013940
How I wish every friend would be like you. Dimgba Igwe would be happy seeing how you’ve stood by his family like Rock of Gibraltar. ASP Bonny O. 08073660183
The poignant story of your commitment and loyalty to the spirit of friendship/brotherhoold in this wicked world of selfish and fair-weather friends draws me to tears. Sunny Omeje, Abuja, 08060969573
Just read your tribute to your covenant brother as he posthumously marks his 60th birthday. I am most touched that “in a moment of frustration,” you two decided to write Art of Features, a book that became a classic and a training manual for journalists. God bless you Sir. Emeka Uzosike, 08034365429
What a touching birthday tribute and honour to your friend and inseparable companion Dimgba Igwe. God alone will keep you and your two families. Barrister Anyaoha, 08035384626
I didn’t cry because Dimgba Igwe is no more, I was moved to tears by your sincerity and love to a man who is not from your tribe, your love for a stranger. There are very few with a heart like yours. Samuel Okoro, 08184885444