SPEAKING FOR THE ENEMY I understand very well the axiom, “bad news sells”. But I also agree with another truism: “if you don’t say I am, nobody will say you are”. The recent escalation of activities of insurgents in the north east of Nigeria is given me a lot of worry, just like I expect it will also be giving many other citizens serious headaches. However, my worry is not just that boko haram seem to be running amok around some villages and towns in Borno and Adamawa States, my worry is majorly on how some Nigerians and organizations by their conducts have become the mouth piece cum chief propagandist of the terror organization. They take delight in every negative news that comes out of Nigeria. In my more than three decades of existence in this world, I have seen wars fought, I have followed and read war stories. I did read about how one of Biafran broadcaster Chief Oko Okon Ndem almost changed the course of history with the usage of his microphone and biro. That ace broadcaster used propaganda to the admiration of his enemies. He motivated and galvanized Biafra’s rag tag soldiers who have painted woods carved as guns to believe that they are invisible to the extent of confronting well armed Nigerian soldiers. His radio programs made some Nigerian soldiers doubt if they will ever win the war with Biafra especially after the audacious incursion into the Midwest. At first, it was difficult for me to believe that boko haram will have sympathizers that spread across religions and ethnicity, or how else can one explain how most of the print media report with glee the seeming gains of the insurgents, while missing totally or tucking inside the belly of their newspapers any gains of our military. I am even more miffed that none of our so called newspapers have their correspondence in any of the front lines; they are either plagiarizing international news media or sitting in the comfort of their offices and concocting stories with screaming headlines. “Boko Haram Captures…”, “Boko Haram Seizes…”, “Boko Haram Sacks…” Ironically, these definitive headlines are regrettably most times accompanied with narrations like “unconfirmed sources” and “anonymous eye witness” I have also seen some of my friends who only share and post news stories that seem to be only promoting the perceived successes of the insurgents, while deriding our troops or going deaf at any time the military records successes. The situation has gotten so bad that almost all our major dailies missed in their headline the astounding breaking news by the Hon. Minister of Health that as at Sept. 10, 2014, there is no single active Ebola virus case in Nigeria. How did we miss such cheering news on the front pages? I am not by any means promoting censorship/gagging of the media or individuals, but rather I am advocating for media responsibility and patriotism. We should not allow our political affiliations to becloud our sense of reasoning. Our military needs us now more than ever before even when they are ‘tactically maneuvering’ Nigeria will be great again so play a part that you will be proud to tell your children. I will rather believe and support our troops regardless than Boko Haram. What about you?
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 09:38:03 +0000
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