The question I kept asking myself was and is still; how, how, how on earth could a 300 and 400 level student plan and execute a felony of such magnitude. I am yet to recover from the shock; I imagined the value these boys and the young murdered lady would have added to their family and the society had it not been so.
So much for meandering thoughts and questions, the reality at hand is that this lady has been killed, I have listened to various discussions on this issue so much that I began to panic about the possible upshot of this sad waste.
I have heard a lot of young women, even old women, appraise and blame the victim for going to see a guy she met on Facebook or BlackBerry messenger, as the case might have been, like they wouldn’t do same or have never done same. The truth is that internet is here to stay and a lot of people are meeting on the internet and getting married, or at least dating. And it will continue to be so albeit with some caution on the part of those who would be cautious.
As a human being it is part of us to trust, and as much as it is convenient to blame the victim for greed, lust or whatever comes to mind. I have done a thorough retrospection and introspection and concluded that what happened to Cynthia could have happened to any Nigerian girl or boy, she is neither more greedy nor lustful she was only trusting, perhaps too trusting.
Girls leave their homes everyday to meet up with guys they met on internet for various reasons, lots of that is happening right now. Some do it for money, some for dating, and others to feed their sexual requisite. While we may stand on an unmerited moral ground to condemn any or all of these reasons I do not think any of them qualifies a woman for what happened to Cynthia.
Even a prostitute does not deserve to be killed unless the killer is God, it is a good thing the perpetrators were caught as this will prevent them from continuing this horrific sin and probably serve as a lesson to others in the same business. But this is not enough, we must observe a minute of silence for Cynthia and another minute of silence for all the living Nigerians for being the generation that spurred and witnessed this horror.
We are all guilty of worshipping money while pretending to be religious and moral; it is sad and regrettable that we have driven ourselves and our children thus far, maybe farther than we know now.
In any case, beloveth, let us be wary of easy money, gifts and instant friends. We must shrewdly and scrupulously consider the people we let into our lives and we must watch painstakingly how we let them in.
May the soul of Cynthia rest forever. AMIN.
