Ekene Ngwu: An Igbo man did not try to kill Buhari (Y! Politico)

by Ekene Ngwu

Ekene_Ngwu

 

Despite the revelation of the suspect’s name, the earlier rumour still rages and thousands of people, if not millions, in Nigeria already believe that “an Igbo man has made an attempt on Buhari’s life”.

 

Muhammadu Buhari was unharmed after suicide bombers attempted to assassinate him, but misinformation with regards to the arrested suspect’s name poses a danger to Nigeria’s unity.

According to many reports, the suicide bombers detonated the bomb, the car and themselves beside Buhari’s car, in Kawo, Kaduna State, on 23rd July 2014. Security agents arrested a man near the scene, and from that day till this moment, many people have bandied rumours that the name of the arrested suspect is ‘Chukwudi’. Being an Igbo name, many people have made hateful statements while implying that an Igbo man attempted to harm the retired General. Another version of the rumour also suggests that the assassination attempt was planned and sponsored by a popular Ijaw man, but he has since denied publicly.

 

I consider these ‘popular rumours’ as misinformation because the suspect’s name has been revealed to be MANIR YUSUF, a ‘cross dresser’ who likes wearing female clothing. His culpability is yet to be proven, and even as his ethnicity is definitely not Igbo, and shouldn’t matter, that belief can engender hatred towards Igbos in Northern Nigeria.

Despite the revelation of the suspect’s name, the earlier rumour still rages and thousands of people, if not millions, in Nigeria already believe that “an Igbo man has made an attempt on Buhari’s life”.

 

Nigerian politicians are reputed to manipulate tribal sentiments, and certain people may gain political mileage from this false narrative, but even if they spread what they believe to be true, it is dangerous to be assertive with such tales. Grave dangers also subsist in the many other conspiracy theories propounded by highly influential people, which are also detrimental to Nigeria’s peace and unity.

It is believable to assume that insurgents have declared him an enemy since he started condemning their activities publicly. These insurgents have attacked many other prominent people who oppose their ideology, and it won’t be far from the truth to conclude they were, and are still after his life.

 

An attempt on Buhari’s, life is a huge crisis that deserves an effective and proactive crisis communication approach by the federal government, instead of assuming that ‘everything is fine because he was not harmed’. Apart from being a former Head of State, he is also a top political figure whose influence in Nigeria is immense. At the risk of sounding hysterical, all well-meaning Nigerians as well as the Federal Government must do more to counter this misinformation. Some people have unwisely pointed fingers to the Jonathan-led Federal Government, and by extension, the ruling party. The Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba has released a statement that high-powered investigations revealed the Federal Government is not involved in the attack, but he did not reiterate the name of the arrested suspect in that statement.

 

Reports also surfaced that the Federal Government, a few months ago, beefed up security around General Buhari, and provided the bulletproof vehicle he rode in when he was attacked. While that is a laudable proactive effort, the government needs to be continuously pre-emptive about the subsequent implications of such incidents.

As much as information dissemination on the fight against insurgency seems to have improved, I would like to encourage security agencies to be more proactive towards crisis communication, to reduce such dangerous rumours.

 

All Nigerians have a moral duty to identify dangerous perceptions, if they can, and I hope I will not be misunderstood to be protecting regional interests. I reluctantly opted to sound this alarm, and as a practitioner in the field of perception management, believe me, it is not a false alarm.

A similar narrative contributed to Nigeria’s civil war, after Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, an Igbo man, led a coup in 1966, and killed the premier of Nigeria’s Northern region, Sir Ahmadu Bello, amongst others. To cut a long story short, the coup perceived to be ‘a coup by Igbo men’ caused the 1966 pogroms in which over 30,000 people of Eastern Region, especially Igbos, were murdered. The secession of the Eastern Region, and the civil war ensued, and unity between certain ethnic nationalities in Nigeria has continued to dwindle till date.

As different as these scenarios might be, it is very certain, that if the general had been harmed, and such a rumour circulates, Igbos living in Northern Nigeria may be attacked, and the present-day carnage in the region may worsen.

 

Many people, including the president of Nigeria have thanked God or thanked the stars that the general was unharmed because of how the millions who revere him may react.

In recent times, insurgency as well as many threats to non-indigenes in some Northern Nigerian states have made many people to relocate southwards.

As weak as Nigeria’s unity might seem, proactive and effective crisis communication might just be enough to defeat the growing distrust between different ethnic groups. There are so many people who willingly spread such fallacies, leading to the continuous growth of negative sentiments that do not encourage peaceful co-existence of all and sundry in Nigeria. Nigerian politicians must also stop the accusations and counter accusations that further weaken the ties binding this country.

 

While, most of us should continue to be thankful that Buhari survived that attack, a lot more must be done to douse the tension that is rising due to misinformation, and curb the imminent danger it poses if ignored.

 

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

Comments (2)

  1. I wonder why Nigerians were happy that Buhari is not dead; is’t not Buhari who said He will make the Nation Ungovernable for Jonathan? Lets face a fact now, is Nigeria Nation Governable? Believe me i tell you fellow Nigerians, Buhari plotted that Bombing, in order not for Nigerians to feel He is not one of the Boko- Haram’s Sponsorer.

  2. buhari if ur are the on that is causeing all this problem in niaja remeber that there is GOD

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