Home OPINION COMMENTARY 2019: Disinformation, Misinformation And Deceit, By Bernard Balogun

2019: Disinformation, Misinformation And Deceit, By Bernard Balogun

 

Each passing day, as we get closer to 2019, the election year in Nigeria, the level of disinformation, misinformation and deceit in the polity get messier.

Long, long ago, we were told “….charity begins at home…..” That popular saying does not fly in the ears of our leaders anymore. Otherwise, I am just wondering, why would Governor Nyeson Wike of Rivers State go to Benue State to commiserate with the good and ever hardworking people of Benue State and donated N200-million whereas in Omoku  in Rivers State, he had not compensated those killed in the January 1 massacre.

I am told that the Executive Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose also visited Benue State to commiserate with our brothers and sisters who were bereaved. But I am unhappy to hear that he also donated N200-million when he still owes his workers many months salaries.

With N200-million, Ekiti State Government can pay 70 Directors at N350,000 per Director; 140 Deputy Directors at N270,000 and 200 Assistant Directors at N250,000, all amounting to over N112 million. Please, I have deliberately used federal government salary scale, which is higher than States’ salary scale. Again, “…charity” they say “begins at home…”

Of course, agreed, it is a good idea to commiserate with the bereaved but first thing first. Put your house in order before attending to your neighobour’s house. That is “charity begins at home” as we were taught many years ago. Is that the case in this instant?

Since the beginning of the year, the issue of the Nigerian economy has been down-played with the talk of Fulani herdsmen, the Buhari element of it, being a Fulani-man and the raging conversation of the anti-grazing law, to be or not to be.

Other developmental issues such as fuel scarcity have been downplayed without anyone looking at the way out of the challenge.

Another issue is Lasser fever which has been killing us in droves across the country and yet, little attention is paid. The issue of the Fulani herdsmen is not new to the people of Nassarawa, Benue and Taraba States. It is a long standing issue dating back to around 2004 or so, as the recent press briefing addressed by distinguished Senator (Dr) Abdullahi Adamu has revealed.

If Senator Abdullahi Adamu, whose tenure as the Governor of Nasarawa State ended in May 2007, can confirm that his administration confronted the monster called Fulani herdsmen” and was able to tame its rampaging tendency at that time, it means the present States’ Governors where this monster had reared its ugly head had not done enough to combat it. Senator Abdullahi Adamu revealed during the press briefing that he was in constant consultation with his Benue counterpart at that time, Governor Akume, and they were able to achieve respite.

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I think some of the APC Governors have displayed insensitivity on this matter.

Instead of finding solutions, and charting the way forward, some people are making political capital out of the killings. They are trying to use the orgy of bloodshed to advance their political interests, making it to appear as if it is a failure of the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

Politicians are out to make/score cheap political points out of this unfortunate incident and unfortunately most Nigerians gullibly bought into their wrong reading of this primitive fury.

Why would Governor Samuel Ortom not consult with his Nasarawa or even Taraba counterparts to achieve respite, an approach which his predecessors applied before his own advent in government? Diplomacy in this matter is quite necessary. I thought, Governor Ortom ought to have invited the Miyetti Allah Group, community leaders and security chiefs to a roundtable to seriously discuss the issue of cattle eating up farm produce and the need to create grazing colony. Even the Miyetti Allah group will make input into the discussion and where there is stalemate, encourage the Miyetti group to go back to consult with their people on the way forward. By this, the group is carried along; indeed they will feel satisfied and honoured.

Perhaps, the Governor did not realize the sensitive nature of the Fulani herdsmen matter, which gave rise to the massacre as witnessed in January 2018.

If majority of the people decide to go for the “anti-grazing law” so be it but let there be sufficient education to eliminate any misgiving or wrong notion that the State hates the “Fulani people.” On this score, I believe, there has not been sufficient communication. In truth, the decision of the “owners of the land” is superior to those of the “nomadic Fulanis.”

Meanwhile, President Buhari, being full-fledged Nigerian, has the right to re-contest for second term, if he so decides. It is therefore inconsequential to say “we will not vote for Buhari,” and the question is who are the ‘we?’

In democracy, you speak more for yourself than for others, because only you know yourself and can speak only for yourself. In any case, about 14-million Nigerians gave Buhari their votes in 2015. That number certainly has increased by now. There are those electorates, who during that election in 2015 did not vote for Buhari and/or APC. Their positions have since changed and are willing to give their votes to Buhari, in particular, because they have adjudged the Buhari presidency to be productive in certain sub-sector of the economy.

Bernard Balogun writes from Wuse District in Abuja and can be reached on 0803.787.9275. [myad]