DEATH THREAT 2.

The story about Ciroma elicited an internal investigation by Premium Times PT which got their Plateau reporter fired and an apology extended to Ciroma. In order words, some guys plucked news from Pluto's atmosphere and tagged Ciroma to it. It is unfortunate that some people still did not get this memo at all or they got it but found it difficult to accept they were duped so they carried on with the narrative.

Some people praised PT for apologising and even attacked Nigerians who didn't spare PT because none of the other media houses who ran with the reprisal story didn't retract or apologize. Like how the gist about Arabic in Police screening exams got into church sermons, Ciroma was prayer point headline and the gates of curses were torn down on account of him and the people he represents. The gates of hell were also opened earlier in the year when two priests and about 17 others were killed in Benue. An appointee of Ortom was arrested for this carnage and Benue has gone cold.

It is baffling how rumour, conspiracy theory and faulty material gets served as sermons these days. When people can justify a 'pastor' calling on his members to take heads and offer them to God, what is the small matter of just accusing an entire tribe of planning to dominate about 250 others?

I listened to the clip about Fulanis not being able to rule in Guinea and Senegal and how they are all being summoned to Nigeria a few days ago. I was disappointed that such could have been said. One wonders if those who got killed or displaced in Ebonyi, Akwa Ibom and Cross River a few days earlier were non-Christians. It appears there is nothing the incumbent Fulani President can do to convince those whose minds are made up already.

I commented on a certain post where this video was attached and a certain young man who attends the church of the pastor concerned decided to be famous. He called someone "pisshead" and then faced me posting daddy and mummy abuse. He later on posted "I am about to make you lose your life," "...if I see you physically, what happen (sic) to those people in Jos will happen to you," "..don't be worried, the shivering will soon stop. The dead don't shiver."

I have been laughing all day today because a Yoruba man from Ekiti like me can boldly make threats to commit murder on social media because of his love for his pastor. This is unfortunately what some Nigerians have become; we were supposed to debate on the validity of the history lesson but sense does not always go side by side with packaging.

Where do we all come from sef? Who is the indigene and who is the non-indigene? I have learnt a few things about my lineage from my mother and if you haven't asked your people any questions before, perhaps it is high time you did. I know a friend and colleague with incredible history that extends into Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Brazil, USA, Benin Republic and a few other West African nations. Why do we go about with arrogance (if I must call it that) like we are superior to other people? We keep talking about 1804 and an age where we did not have formal boundaries defining nations. Major tribes in Guinea for example have origin in Ancient Mali, some ethnicities are divided by national or state boundaries. Should such related people end their affiliation simply because of boundaries? Should we build walls like Trump proposed or should we divide Africa all over again so that we don't have any mixing?

It's easy to say this is our land and others are settlers but what is the gain? Should original Lagosians say non-indigenes in Idi-Araba, FESTAC, Aguda, parts of Surulere etc ask 'settlers' to vacate because their forefathers before Dan Fodio owned the land? Should we not work with those of us alive at this time and find out ways that the disputed lands and waters will be efficiently utilized?

I am convinced that blacklisting people who don't share our ethnicity, culture or religion does not proceed from love (of even ourselves and family members) but from paranoia and a supremacist ideology. We are not any different from the Ku Klux Klan or slave traders.

As for the wannabe murderer, I can only pray for him and hope his friends and family help him. You are not more human because you think one cannot condemn killings in Nigeria and at the same time support Mr President.

If you can't stand him, get your PVC, identify a candidate and campaign peacefully and vigorously for him or her to win. it's not war and like I tell people, I won't mind to see the drama and action a Sowore presidency will bring. Do you think i won't enjoy watching him jail Jonathan, Atiku, Obasanjo, Dezieani, Tinubu etc etc?

JOA3072018

DEATH THREAT (1)

You see, I have used my facebook wall to call out at least two 'men of God' who say political stuff that I consider prejudicial and inappropriate for the office they occupy. I have done it before and I will do it again.

No one can tell me stereotyping any group or ethnicity is the ideal response in Nigeria considering our history and volatility. Telling people to spill blood, behead people or simply making accusations based on conspiracy theories cannot and I repeat cannot be justified. I have heard sermons or parts of such since before 2015 which have been based on fake news and propaganda.

Christopher Wylie of Cambridge Analytica blew the whistle earlier this year on how his group sought for hacked material on President Buhari's health status for representatives of the previous administration. In his testimony to a UK parliamentary committee, he mentioned how they provided a canadian firm: Aggregate IQ with violent video content to distribute in Nigeria' cyberspace aimed at intimidating voters. He said they had throat slits, burning bodies, hijabs etc all to convince Nigerian voters that it was cool to be anti-Islam for that election but what some people still believe till 2019 is that Buhari was the one with the propaganda.

I have seen supposedly cerebral individuals talk about the rallying call to Fula people worldwide to approach Nigeria and reign. The Fula people they say have their origin in Futa Jallon, Guinea and have been unable to dominate there so they moved all the way to Northern Nigeria where they have found refuge. What they fail to mention is that there are at least four countries in West Africa where a Fula individual presides or jointly presides but that won't be sensational enough. There is just something special about Nigeria that the west coast nation of Guinea and the Futa Jallon highlands doesn't have.

We are constantly reminded of what Usman Dan Fodio did in the 1800s which was halted but has somehow resumed. The spirit of Dan Fodio lives on and some people probably believe it is now upon the 75 years old Buhari and herdsmen who some say he funds. What is certain about Nigeria is that we have many tribes that have stood the test of time. An age of savagery could not wipe them out or subjugate them (we must acknowledge that kingdoms were subdued by Dan Fodio's movement) but civilisation appears to have brought along the fear of domination. This I find perplexing.

Nigeria has experienced numerous episodes of severe conflicts and bloodshed especially since the return of democracy in 1999. I won't go into mentioning Yelwa, Kaduna, Langtang, Jos, Dogo Nahawa, etc because it is now an offence in Nigeria to talk about the past; some consider it as an exhibition of a subhuman state and a lack of empathy so I will let it slide so I am not misunderstood. One of such unfortunate events happened on the 23rd of June 2018 in Plateau state which had otherwise been relatively quiet for the past few years when compared to what neighbouring Benue state experienced for extended periods.

Like most recent conflicts in Nigeria, this one was quickly tagged as the activities of Fulani herdsmen. For someone like me, I do not like this hurried descriptions even before investigations are done. If I am correct, the newspapers were already buzzing the next day with a report that Miyetti Allah had somehow taken responsibility by acknowledging it was a reprisal attack for lost cattle. Governor Ortom of Benue was reported in the Vanguard newspaper joining others to ask for the arrest of the Miyetti Allah spokesman who repeatedly denied that he gave the quotes published in the tabloids.

This Miyetti Allah spokesman Ciroma, represents the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders' association MACBAN. The group is the one Ortom had praised for cooperating with his state's anti-open grazing law (or whatever it is called). Ortom had (he still did in a Channels TV interview a few days ago) repeatedly accused the other Miyetti Allah group Kautal Hore as the culprits in just about all the Benue clashes except the ones he claimed without any investigations were the handiwork of a Benue indigene Gana. MAKH have repeatedly denied involvement as claimed by Ortom and I wonder if we should not grant them fair hearing.

The MACBAN Plateau state chairman granted an extensive interview a few days ago and one online newspaper gave a completely inaccurate headline of the content of that story. Nura Abdullahi mentioned that he is Fulani but an indigene of Plateau state. His opinion of the events of the 23rd of June was that it was his people who were actually at the receiving end on that weekend. He reeled out the names of villages where attacks on Fulani and their herd had taken place in the past and recently and accused some Berom people and other locals of attacking them. He denied the involvement of his people in the attacks but that is his opinion. Should we deny him or his people fair hearing because of prejudice?

When one asks that we are cautious about how we react to the cycle of violence and weigh all arguments, one is quickly brandished as a sympathiser of blood thirsty, privileged terrorists. One is seen as a mere defender of government and any attempt to try to explain that pushing a one-sided narrative helps no one is quickly met by a barrage of insults and curses. Should we deny that the much vilified Fulani have not suffered incredible losses on the Plateau cattle or not? The Human Rights Watch have detailed documents on past clashes in Plateau and Kaduna state especially and many of the stories therein are too gory to mention here. These events have hardly been confronted with justice and only get to have repeat performances from time to time. It is folly to keep saying the muslim incumbent is the one killing people when we had far worse cases under Christian presidents. We need justice urgently and that is a legitimate demand.

JOA3072018