Let those with ears, digest the truths being told by this government…
In the immediate aftermath of the Plateau massacre, the news wave and blogosphere were abuzz with statements credited to a man named Danladi Ciroma. He was said to have ascribed the carnage to a retaliation for the loss of 300 heads of cattle allegedly rustled in the community where the massacre took place. He was further alleged to have said, that the equation remained unbalanced, until there are equal numbers of human deaths, for the lost bovines.
A couple of days later, I watched Usman Baba Ngelzerma, the National Secretary of Miyetti Allah on Channels TV, he strenuously denied and dissociated his association from the statement purportedly issued by the Plateau Zonal chairman of the association, declared that Ciroma lacks the capacity to speak for the association, and concluded that he spoke what must be deemed his own mind.
The Channels presenters delivered a coup de gras, they called Mallam Danladi Ciroma on the phone, and the hapless Ciroma was given the opportunity to clarify or deny his alleged statement. I heard him admit talking to the journalist, and I also heard him denying that he said the words that were credited to him. The clearly annoyed National Secretary, disowned Ciroma on national television, even as Ciroma labored to deny the statement. Ngelzerma was on other news channels for days thereafter, diligently disowning Ciroma.
The corrigendum published by Premium Times, the original platform that broke the news, silenced the critical mass of Nigerians perturbed by the brazenness of Ciroma’s now denied outburst, and the truth became clouded, if not lost, in the noise generated by the deliberate and vociferous campaign to discredit and obfuscate the issues raised. That was where we were.
Amongst the Yorubas, there’s a tree credited with mythical powers, it is known as Obo. It is said that when the bark of this tree is soaked in water, any Aje, our local Airforce, that drinks the water, would begin to involuntary and spontaneously, confess their witchcraft, and recount their exploits as members of the coven. It is my humble submission, that some person or persons intent on mischief, have bewitched the witch hunters of Aso Rock. The bark of Obo, has found its way into the water sources of Aso Rock.
First it was the Defense Minister, who told Nigerians, that the terrorist herdsmen would cease killing the very people he swore and is paid to protect, if the anti grazing laws of the states of Taraba and Benue, are abrogated. The Inspector General of Politics soon echoed the defense minister, and not long after, our incorruptible president was quoted as asking that the mourning people of Benue should be their brothers’ keepers.
If Danladi Ciroma was indeed misquoted, pray, has Femi Adesina also been misquoted? Femi speaks for the government and Buhari, what he has said is thematically linked to what each and everyone of the others have said. Give up your ancestral home and land, that you may preserve your lives. The rights of the cows and their owners, are superior to those of the Nigerians that they are pretending to serve.
Let those who will be confused by the evidence of their own senses, continue in their solidarity with the lies of Buhari, but let those with ears, digest the truths being told by this government. Time was, when all we had to go with, were the body languages of Buhari and his men, these days, they’re speaking loudly, and the truth is coming out unfiltered. Thank you broda Femi, for your invaluable truth.
DF
First published 5 July, 2018.
