Double Celebration amidst growing fear, anger due to rising insecurity in our communities.

This year, our Eid-el-Kabir and Children’s Day share the same calendar, but they also share a deeply broken heart . How do we celebrate the festive joy of Eid and the innocent laughter of Children’s Day when the recent school abductions in Oyo State have left us in an atmosphere of intense grief and anger? While we gather to pray and feast, our thoughts are heavily anchored to the children still trapped in the forests and the families living through an absolute nightmare.

This double celebration cannot be business as usual. It must be a moment of deep, conscious reflection.How we must approach this day:Pray with Anguish: Turn our Eid prayers into a fierce cry for the immediate, safe rescue of every single abducted child and teacher.Protect with Purpose: Let this day fuel our collective anger to demand real, armed security infrastructure around our schools.Celebrate with Empathy: Hold our children closer today, but let our festive joy be tempered by an unyielding remembrance of those who cannot smile today.

We refuse to let our collective silence become complicity. True celebration will only return when every school is a sanctuary, and every stolen child is brought back home to laugh in peace.