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Propaganda is taking a huge toll on this government. Give it to them. Propaganda is its greatest strength. That has been unambiguously demonstrated many times over time.
It’s its most potent weapon. It once used it to its maximum. That paid off handsomely. Propaganda railroaded it into power in 2015. And it won’t stop using it since then.
Ordinarily, President Bola Tinubu shouldn’t be given to threats on propaganda. Not from the North. Or any quarters or region. Sure! Nobody, no region has a monopoly over such.
However, admittedly, this one is loud. It’s a snare. A booby trap, sort of. And Tinubu dares not ignore it. It captures it all. It succinctly identifies the weaknesses of this government. Propaganda is it! It is major, the chief of them all. It’s speedily yielding to self-destruction. And that’s precisely on spot.
Tinubu knows the onions of propaganda inside-out. He was never a stranger to that. But the greatest danger lies in sweeping its trend under the dirtiest carpet. Pretending no stake is at stake. That’s ultimate self-undoing.
This takes the shine over other prioritised urgencies. It is the naked reality. It is equally startling.
And that’s awfully upsetting Prof. Usman Yusuf. Still remember him? Yes, of course. You won’t want to forget him in a hurry. He’s the controversial Executive Secretary, National Health Insurance Scheme.
His scheme today is far from insurance. He has left that for the start-up generation. His seeming concern, as we speak, is the political health of Nigeria. That draws him into a head-on collision with Tinubu.
He’s not taking things lightly or kindly. Not for granted. Or with kid’s gloves either. He means every letter of his outpouring. He has one enormous axe to grind with Tinubu. It centres on his perceived misuse of his mighty propaganda machine. He’s calling him out for the roughest fight. If that will settle it forever.
He opened up recently in a little more than his usual element. He claimed to have the whole country at heart. But he betrayed himself as quickly as possible.
From-top-bottom, he poured out exclusively on his beloved dying North. Nothing else was left untold about the alleged mistreatment of his North.
You would not be unmindful to laugh. And you would be eternally glad you did. The known deceit was further made known, exposed. It was the last question of his recent interview that did the magic:
“While you criticised the Tinubu-led government on insecurity, supporters of this government have also argued that they have done better than the previous administration. What is your take on that?”
Yusuf burst loose: “They have done better in propaganda. I have never seen a government that thrives on propaganda like that of Tinubu, but that is their modus operandi. Recently, Boko Haram killed close to 90 people in Bawa Local Government.
“In my home state, Katsina, bandits killed 32 people praying in the mosque. They went into town and killed over 20 more people, bringing the death toll to over 50. They carted many more into the forest. I want the National Security Adviser or any of his Advisers to come to these places and tell them that security is better.
“I will repeat it: The North sees Tinubu as the first Commander-in-Chief who is hands-off on security, which is the major issue bedevilling our region.
“All that the people he has handed over security to are doing is propaganda, making the President unpopular in the region.
“Security is not better in the North. If they want to say it is better, let them go to Borno State or Katsina State, where 24 out of 34 local governments are under siege. Seventy per cent of Katsina State is under siege. I want any of his security advisers to go and tell them in these places that security is better.
“The President doesn’t talk about anything concerning security that bedevils us in the North. He’s only interested in collecting taxes all over. So, he’s done nothing. Under him, insecurity has worsened.
“Our land in the North is drenched in blood. We are burying our dead every day in the hundreds. So, he shouldn’t come and tell us that security is better.”
You may want to pity Yusuf and his North. But, in all of this, who’s really to blame? Now, come to think of it. The North still holds effectively the topmost echelons of Nigeria’s security architecture.
You wonder wildly why! This is how Tinubu made it happen. Without holding a brief for Tinubu or the North. And no sane person should do it for any of the sworn duo. Where really is Tinubu at fault here? As it was in Buhari’s era; so it’s in Tinubu’s. He foretold it. He forewarned us.
He affirmed loud and clear before, during and even after electioneering. That Buhari did a fantastic job. And he vowed there and then to continue from where Buhari abandoned us. In the bottomless pit!
He made good his heartfelt promise to the North almost immediately. He needed not to search any far. His mind was made up. He knew what he wanted. And how to get it.
He zoomed in on his partymen of Fulani extraction. His lot fell on Nuhu Ribadu, from Adamawa. A terrorist-devastated state. That fits the bill as the arrowhead of his security network. Eternally fulfilled. He called him his National Security Adviser (NSA).
Ribadu supervises every bit of security concerns in and out. All the services take orders from him. And report to him directly in both cases.
The list includes but not necessarily limited to: Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Chief of Army Staff (CoAS), Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Chief of Air Staff (CAS) and Inspector -General of Police (IGP). This NSA wields enormous powers.
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Not done yet. Tinubu capped it up with the Ministry of Defence. He handed its two Ministers again to the North on gold platter. You ought to weep for Nigeria. The thought processes of our leaders are eerie. They’re miles far away from ours.
Imagine Tinubu’s picks for our defence: Mohammad Badaru Abubakar, Minister of Defence, from their North West. He’s immediate past governor, Jigawa State. His junior Minister, Bello Matawalle, Fulani, North West. Also a former governor, Zamfara State.
The two states, like Ribadu’s, are heavily terrorists’ killing fields. And they are located in the North West axis.
Instead of doing the needful. They are busy doing nothing daily. And deceiving themselves big time. Hosting armed terrorists to sumptuous parties, corrupted as parley, dialogue, consultation, et al.
The reason they are getting the type of results they are getting. They asked for it. And they are getting it in good measure.
Stranger than fiction. This very same North is raising the fiercest complaints about insecurity. Not in the whole country. But solely and selfishly in their enslaved North.
They imported terrorism into the country. All because they wanted their Fulani Buhari to win election in 2015. And spread terrorism like harmattan fire. Yet, they have audacious guts to hang their plight on our innocent and fragile necks.
Who brought these foreign terrorists in the rough garment of Fulani herdsmen? Buhari’s All Progressives Congress (APC), of course! That tells retrogressive stories of how “progressive” they are.
Yoruba deride these foreign Fulani with the tag: Bororo. Because they are strangers and deadly. They seek nothing but your blood and properties, specifically, land.
Abubakar Baraje has been beating this beat since 2020. With all the strengths he could muster.
Nasir El-Rufai confirmed it several times over. There has never been the slightest denial. Not from any known or unknown constituted or unconstituted authority. Their loud mouths of double-speak remain shut forever. Mum is their word. They have muted till eternity and the end of ages.
We wonder at Yusuf’s latter-day musings. For the eight lost years Buhari happened to us. He ensured his Fulani held us in the jugular. It was a deliberate state policy. The town Fulani among them occupied every top position in government and public service. The nomads took over all our thick forests and bushes.
Nowhere was spared: South, East, West and North. It was indeed, a heavy yoke. We were practically under bondage. We are still overwhelmed.
All the same. A bitter truth emerges from Yusuf’s lamentation, though. This government has dwelled on falsehoods for too long. Calling white black is impacting negatively on the government. Churning out outright data and figures that don’t speak to the reality will further alienate them from the citizenry.
It erodes whatever confidence and trust remain. It will do nobody any good but damage. It’s what’s happening right now.
Let’s our rulers change their evil ways of doing things.
Propaganda is profitable only when it’s factual. Otherwise, it is destructive and obstructive. It consumes even its propagandists.
May that not be our portion. Only if…
However, in our clear-headed neighbouring countries. There is a ray of hope from foreign lands. Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso are making things happen. Quietly and quite differently too. It is pleasant to the ears of the hearers.
They’re jointly exposing Nigeria to international ridicule. A list of our politicians aiding terrorists is being compiled. And with the the seriousness such action deserves.
For real. They are not mouthing it. They aren’t Nigerians that they should lie. Nor sons of Nigeria that they should derail.
The report is specific. They are not doing guess work nor trial-and-error. Neither will they allege and desperately scout for evidence later; where none exists.
This is how they do their things: “Intelligence agencies from Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso say they are preparing to reveal the names of senior Nigerian politicians alleged to be supporting bandit groups operating in Nigeria’s North-West.
They added that some individuals involved in supplying arms to the bandits had been arrested and investigations were underway.”
In this area. Nigeria is blatantly found wanting. We need to take the lead here. Instead, we elect to resort to endless blame games.
A party that has spent uninterrupted 10 years in government and power. To still lay its glaring failures at the doorsteps of its predecessor!
This beats all rational minds hollow. Isn’t it?
