Arik Kid, Daniel Oikhena Hero or Villain?

Up till moment, the misadventure of the Daniel Oikhena has earned him rewards and little or no condemnation. The basis for the reward is clear – Intelligence. The 13-year-old boy stunned everyone including his family members to do what no Nigerian has ever done.

He chose to stowaway to America to realize a dream; in the recess of the wheel compartment of Arik airplane where Daniel had hid himself.


His intelligence however did not tell him that he might not get to America alive or that bodies had been known to fall when the wheels come down before landing; or better still; he chose to ignore all that.

The Junior Secondary School II student of Asoro Grammar school, Benin, perfected the act and waltzed down like a hero, unscathed without any mistake from his hiding place.

Even the Austrian-born American former actor, Arnold Schwarzenegger would have carried out several rehearsals before embarking on it in a make-believe adventure.

That is the stuff Nigerian child is made off. Thanks to Edo State government and Governor Rauf Aregbesola Foundation splashing scholarships on him. But not many people have seen anything bad in the act that fell short of acceptable behavior.

I wonder what would be running through the minds of other kids and young-adults who have been socially and economically traumatized. I just pray the rewards wont be a stimulant to encourage desperate acts in our society especially under this present condition.

But the Muslims should at this glorious time give glory to God. This is because the storyline surrounding Daniel’s reasons for the act – realising a dream in America would have changed or better still would not have survived most probably if he was a Muslim.

If his name had been Musa or Yussuf, even without a modicum of knowledge of the five pillars of Islam, he would have been tagged a Islamic terrorist’ without any benefit of the doubt, indicting Islam.

Nobody would have believed the argument of a mere adventure to realise a dream in America. It would have been insinuated and widely claimed that the he intended to do something sinister, blow up the plane or something.

Security apparatus would have concentrated largely on another planned attack and beaming their search lights on possible links to terrorist groups. In fact, the claim and counter claims would have eroded the idea of scholarships and rewards even if nothing was found. The point here is that Islam has suffered undue bitter contemplation particularly from anachronistic and religious bigots without any justification.

If sometimes, the personal idea and belief of an individual overrides the religious beliefs, it is the individual that should be on focus and not the religion simply because that individual has at that point discarded his religious beliefs.

By Ishola Balogun