It was late President John F. Kennedy of the US who in his world famous inaugural speech of January 20 1961, called on his compatriots not to “ask what the country will do for you but ask what you will do for your country”. Even as he was addressing his countrymen and women at a time when the US was grappling with significant domestic and geo-political challenges, he could as well have been talking to the rest of the world, and, especially to Nigerians at this present time of our country’s history, being 69 years after his speech. When stretched out, the message assigns to every Nigerian – especially the leaders in every calling of life, the onus of acting as if the buck of liability for any challenge facing the country, rests on his or her brief. That is the stuff of which great nations are built, and as history testifies eloquently, the US changed with that inspiring speech, as the citizens recorded significant milestones in their national life.
Coming back to Nigeria, even as there has been in recent times a steady stream of incongruities in the country’s public space, some tendencies around them, raise questions over the disposition of highly placed government officials, as well as how Nigeria will respond if confronted by extreme contingencies. But for the vigilance and sacrifice of the security agancies, the story of Abuja and Nigeria would have been different by now. For instance, in the past one week, Abuja the nation’s capital has on at least two instances come under unprecedented threat of direct hit by the terrorists, which were stalled by security agents that stopped them in their tracks. In one instance was when a patrol team of the Nigerian Army was reportedly ambushed at Bwari – a suburb where the Nigerian Law School Abuja is located. The other was when suspected marauding terrorists were intercepted at a military checkpoint around Zuba apparently on a mission to wreak havoc in the capital territory.
Yet another was the abduction of persons in Kwali Local Government Area also in the FCT. The location of the prestigious Federal Government College there caused significant stir as fears had spread that the terrorists may have had their sights on the school, a scenario which conjured the likelihood of another Chibok-like outrage, where innocent school children would be abducted as sitting ducks. To accentuate the portends of the situation, the Nigerian Law School at Bwari in the FCT had to shift the venue of its Call-to-Bar ceremony to another location, while all schools in the territory were also shut down until further notice, apparently due to the imminent threat from the contingencies.
An interesting twist to the apparent siege on the country’s psyche by the terrorists was their earlier reported plans to abduct both President Muhamadu Buhari and Governor of Kaduna State—Mallam Nasir El Rufai. Untenable as the reported threat may seem, wise counsel, however, dictates that Nigerians and the leadership community should view it with all the seriousness it deserves, as virtually every Nigerian – from the President to the lowest in any part of the country, is now squarely in the gun-sights of these marauders. It is therefore for good measure that there was the recent shake-up in the country’s military establishment with the appointment of new commanding officers for the various commands.
Against the backdrop of the foregoing, it remains a gross disservice of humongous proportion that when Nigerians were expecting proactive and matching follow up responses to imminent contingencies, from the government, it is a complement of reactionary knee-jerk actions, that are forthcoming. And even at that is the rather vexatious indictment of the media in general and picking as scape goats, the BBC as well as the new, trend-setting Trust Television, for allegedly ‘sponsoring terrorism’. The ‘offence’ of the fingered media organizations was airing interviews with terrorist leaders for the public to follow-up on the state of insecurity around the country.
In the words of the Minister of Information and Communication, Lai Mohamed, the government has been rummaging through the statute books to locate any law or order, with which to hang these two media organisations, and ostensibly any other so disposed one that may follow suit. Just as well, in a related manner, Presidential spokesman Femi Adesina had dismissed the threat as a clamour by the terrorists to seek public attention, as according to him, “publicity provides the oxygen needed by terror networks” to prey on public sensitivity and drive their causes.
Adesina for sure is right, judging from the perspective of fighting terror. However, the question here is whether the intention to deny terrorists oxygen for their nefarious operations, should also translate into punishing the citizens by cutting them off from vital tips on when where and how the next life threatening danger will come? This is where the discretion of the media all over the world to place public interest over government interest plays out. With any credible media organization, public interest outweighs any other consideration.
It is in this context that the blame game orchestrated by Lai Mohamed to pillory the BBC and Trust Television remains a faux pas. As a lawyer as well as now Minister of Information and Communication, Lai Mohamed ordinarily understands the issues involved in the matter under consideration. This is just as he must have been an active Nigerian adult during the ignoble 1984 days of ‘Decree Four’, which General Muhamadu Buhari then as military Head of State, used to terrorise the country’s media, and even jailed two innocent journalists – Tunde Thompson as well as Nduka Irabor, ironically for doing their legitimate jobs. He therefore understands the wider implication of poking draconian laws and actions in the face of the media. Why he is goading the Buhari administration into a needless war with the media both in the country and abroad, is what he needs to tell Nigerians.
This ‘Penpoint’ column had once called on Nigerians to help President Muhamadu Buhari save his positive legacies from those of his aides who may not appreciate the need to allow him some positive rating by posterity, after he leaves office. Where Lai Mohamed and company stand in this matter, is any body’s guess.
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