As I write this piece the nation bleeds, innocent Nigerians have been killed by terrorists and bands of heartless criminals. Some were slaughtered in their villages while others were gruesomely murdered on the highways, citizens mowing themselves it is very unfortunate that Nigerians don’t learn from history, they seem to forget that violence is an ill wind that blows no good.
The recent Killings in Jos has revealed many things to me, first, the prevalence of fake news, especially the social media platforms, Media houses are issuing apologies for what they deliberately or erroneously published. For instance Premium Times an online news platform apologized for it called editorial blunder caused by one of its staff, while Daily Trust newspaper has equally taken down of its publication titled; “Because of Cows” it went further to issue an apology for what it described as an oversight.
In Nigeria today, human life has become so cheap that we are more fixated on the numbers, we hold human life in contempt, people now politicize gruesome deaths, oppressors are crying victims, everyone aligns himself with his tribe, religion, region and political parties in order to justify killings of innocent Nigerians. We care less because non of relative is a victim, probably because our villages are yet to be invaded by the marauding killers or because we are yet to flagged down, isolated and lynched because of our tribe, faith and what we look like.
The recent Killings has evoked different theories about the motives and intentions; some it is a grand Islamization agenda, some a politically motivated killings to score cheap political points, to some it is a plot to stereotype a particular ethnic group, while some view it as a systematic land grabbing plot with state backing. All suppositions has a way of validating its viewpoints, one thing I know is Nigerians are killed from all the divides, the criminals/killers are carrying out their nefarious activities with impunity, the authorities are helpless for whatever reasons. When a Governor abdicates his responsibility as the chief security officer of his state and a President and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is advising the bereaved families to only ‘pray’ then you know the gravity of what has befallen us as a nation.
I know my readers may be trying to find a nexus between the title of this piece and its content, yes there is, Pastor Femi Adesina the senior special adviser to the President on media, yes! He is an ordained pastor of the Foursquare Church, he is an accomplished journalist with almost three decades of experience and practice, he has worked in various media houses; from the Concord Newspaper to Vanguard newspaper as well as the managing Editor of Daily Sun newspaper before his appointment as Buhari media chief. When he assumed office he hit the ground running by labelling the ousted People’s Democratic Party PDP as ‘wailing wailers’ he coined the ‘body language leadership’ when it ran out of steam, he coined another phrase ‘a new Sheriff is in town’ when it out lived its political usefulness he got angry with his opponents and invoked the powers of the holy Scriptures on them by calling them ‘The sons of Shimnei’ a biblical story of a man that opposed the biblical king David, who was later beheaded by King David’s son Solomon. Adesina loves stirring the hornet’s nest, though speaking for a taciturn leader that expects you to read his body language is somewhat difficult, I pity him for that.
When Buhari visited Jos to condole with the State over the Killings that took place in the State, the president un-presidentially took over the job of Yemi Kale the statistician General of the federation by comparing data from the Killings in Zamfara State and that of Plateau State, though the president was trying to deflect the criticism that he is spearheading an ‘agenda’ to prove to Nigerians that the killers are not discriminating against any faith, but he got it all wrong! Femi Adesina upped the ante by taking to statistical crescendo by inundating of Nigerians with data and figures of killings during the previous administration he crowned it by proving to Nigerians that less people have been killed in this administration than the previous, the data is a promise that kept that Nigeria is fully secured. The irony of it all is when ‘Poverty Clock’ revealed that Nigeria has overtaken India with poor people ‘Statistician’ did not bandy any data to prove the Poverty Clock people wrong, when the American Center for foreign Relations released figures of killings in Nigeria Pastor Adesina did not counter their results with any data, Amnesty International AI released another comparative figures about the ongoing killings in Nigeria as compared to what it was last year, pastor could not refute it with figures.
Am ashamed of a pastor of a reputable Church like Foursquare Church who has made himself an object of ridicule in the household of faith. He should remember the story of Reuben Abati, Ima Niboro, Olusegun Adeniyi, Uche Chukwumerije, etc he should enquire from them life after Aso Rock how their phones stopped ringing.
My thoughts are with those that lost their lives in the recent Plateau killings, be it on the road or in the bush, may God console you all and its perpetrators exposed and prosecuted.
