NAILING THE HERD

It seems some folks are obsessed about nailing the Fulani herdsmen as the perpetrators of the mayhem which allegedly occurred on Monday morning despite the lack of irrefutable proof of their involvement.

One Biafran themed blog went ahead on Tuesday to state that some people were displaced from an area in Delta state by Fulani herdsmen. They used a photo I had seen before during the height of the Agatu propaganda. Note that I don't dispute that Agatu happened; however the same kind of fabrication and use of unrelated images sourced from social media with respect to Enugu was also adopted by vested interests during the Agatu conflict. They used images of mass graves and mutilated bodies which were actually events that occurred in the Congo, Chad or south Sudan.

Several individuals have since Monday spread rumors of persistent attacks and one in particular posted a picture suggesting that a certain community was armed and ready to defend themselves. The comments on that thread were all about back slaps and high fives with many encouraging all inhabitants of a certain geo-political zone to do all they can to arm themselves to the cusps of their enamel for an inevitable war. The only problem with that post was that the image used had been used before especially a few years ago to tell the story of protesting Niger - Delta militants.

Some people are busy sipping soda and munching on prawn crackers behind their computers or mobile gizmos and using Nigeria to play ludo or their imagined version of war of clans. They know you will react spontaneously to emotionally charged information hence the use of gory images and ever morphing figures. They know you won't check and cross check the information they provide. They know how to override your common sense and send your mumu into overdrive.

Enugu state police command is part of zone 9 which consists of all southeast states save Ebonyi. From the Nigerian police website; there are over 14 million citizens resident in that zone and they have approximately 50,000 officers to maintain law and order in the four states. Let us take out all the cops serving as attaché to the political elite and their spouses; one can only imaging the actual number of officers available to respond to everyday security challenges.

Also from the police website is listed the several challenges that characterise the state of Enugu. These range from armed robbery to kidnapping and then to cultism. I do not think that Fulani herdsmen can be blamed for all these atrocities. I came across one or two links to stories from a few years ago about cult clashes in Enugu with extremely gory images of blasted heads with brain tissue splattered all over. I am not ascertaining that what happened on Monday were cult attacks but if the police think hoodlums who may or may not be herdsmen clashed in the boundary town, I wonder why some people opt to discredit the police but believe hook, line, sinker and bucket stories from blog sites and online media platforms with questionable integrity.

This affair needs a thorough investigation; I do not even want to go into the matter of whether the governor of Enugu called the president but was put on hold for hours. Some individuals who pride themselves as cerebral social commentators unfortunately allowed themselves to be used to spearhead a dangerous rumour even if they were simply asking questions.

Some people think Nigeria is a game or game which needs to be hunted and dismembered. A certain educated fellow stated on social social media that Nigeria must be divided and cannot be allowed to thrive. Don't get carried away by these distractions; always look at the big picture.

April 28, 2016