The Silence of the Conscience: Walida, Ese, and Nigeria’s Mirror of Selective Outrage
The Silence of the Conscience: Walida, Ese, and Nigeria’s Mirror of Selective Outrage - Haruna Abubakar Bebeji The year is 2026, yet for the family of Walida Abdulhadi Ibrahim, time has frozen in a recurring nightmare. A decade ago, Nigeria’s collective moral compass was gripped by the plight of Ese Oruru—a 13-year-old Christian girl abducted from Bayelsa and taken to Kano. Today, history has repeated itself with a chilling, inverted symmetry. But this time, the victim is a Muslim girl, the alleged perpetrator is a high-ranking state operative, and the national outcry is a haunting whisper. Walida’s story is more than a legal dispute; it is a scathing indictment of a nation that seemingly measures justice by the creed of the victim and the identity of the oppressor. The Vanishing of Walida According to her father, Malam Abdulhadi Ibrahim, Walida disappeared from Hadejia, Jigawa State, in 2023 at the age of 15. For two years, the family endured an agonizing void—a grie...