By Huzaifa Jamil Kmata
The killing of a mother and her six children in Kano happened in just one day, yet its shock spread across the city and the country. Almost immediately, social media lit up. Already, everyone now is a journalist the moment news broke, people grabbed their phones, recorded videos, posted updates, and reported as if they were BBC news. Everyone became not just a storyteller, a critic, and a judge, but also an analyst, a detective, a lawyer, and even the lawyers of “federal online courts,” weighing evidence, arguing motives, and debating what justice should look like. Every post, every tweet carried grief, suspicion, anger, and opinion.
Messages of sympathy and sorrow flooded timelines. Strangers from across Nigeria expressed grief for lives that should never have been taken. Parents, neighbors, and community members tried to make sense of the horror. But along with the mourning came frustration and anger. How could this happen? How could seven lives vanish in a single day? Who was paying attention? Social media reflected both our grief and our failure outrage alone does nothing to prevent tragedy.
The authorities acted swiftly. The police arrested the main suspect, Umar Auwalu, a nephew of the deceased mother. His confession revealed a string of violent acts, including past killings. That a relative could commit such cruelty is a chilling reminder that danger can come from within families. It also shows that violence and moral decay can quietly grow, unnoticed, until it becomes a tragedy.
Neighbors ask themselves the same question now: where were we? Seven lives were taken, and yet the world around them carried on. That silence, that lack of intervention, is part of the story. Protecting children and families cannot be left to chance. Parents, guardians, neighbors everyone has a responsibility. Who watches over children when the world looks away? Who speaks for those who cannot defend themselves?
This tragedy exposes wider problems in society. Drug abuse is rampant among the youth, and unemployment leaves many without purpose or hope, driving some into crime or violence. Families struggle to guide their children in a world where temptation, poverty, and despair are everywhere. Violence, greed, and corruption make crime profitable and accountability weak. Political interference sometimes shields criminals, allowing them to continue harming others. And yet, as society mourns, these underlying problems are often ignored until the next tragedy.
The question that now hangs over every home, every street, and every community is simple but urgent: what next? After grief passes, after hashtags fade, after the posts and videos stop, what will we do differently? Will we remain silent while danger grows in our neighborhoods, or will we step in, speak up, and act? How will parents protect their children, teach them right from wrong, and prepare them for a world where threats can come from both within and outside the home? How do we confront the drug abuse, the idleness, the moral decay, and the culture of impunity that allow tragedies to happen?
Social media may record outrage, but lasting change requires action. Communities must speak out and watch over each other. Parents must take an active role in guiding their children. Young people must be given hope, opportunity, and support to avoid falling into destructive paths. Society must hold wrongdoers accountable, and political influence cannot shield criminals from justice. We must face the reality that violence and crime thrive when indifference, greed, and fear dominate.
The swift action of the police gives some hope. It shows that justice is possible when people act with integrity and courage. But it is not enough for a few to act; everyone must take responsibility. Awareness without action changes nothing. Sympathy without responsibility fades quickly. Justice without collective effort is incomplete.
So, after everyone has become a journalist, after every theory has been debated, after every grief has been shared online we must ask ourselves again and again: what next? How will we protect those who cannot protect themselves? How will we raise our children to value life and morality? How will we, as a community and as a society, prevent another tragedy like this from happening again?
This is the challenge before us. Not just to mourn, not just to comment, not just to post online. But to act in our homes, with our families, in our streets, and across society. To guide, to watch, to care, and to speak when silence could cost lives. The question is clear: are we ready to face the truth, take responsibility, and change before it is too late?