American comedian and talk show host, Bill Maher, recently stirred up a hornet’s nest when he claimed during a Friday episode of Real Time with Bill Maher that there is an alleged genocide of Christians in Nigeria. According to him, more than 100,000 Christians have been killed since 2009 and 18,000 churches have been burned.
There is a popular saying often attributed to Abraham Lincoln: “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.” By his infantile claim, Bill Maher did not just speak out of turn, he only exposed his ignorance.
Every sane Nigerian knows that the killings by bandits and insurgents in Nigeria are universal. They bear no religious colouration. Muslims have died, Christians have died, and traditional worshippers too have not been spared. Whole communities have been displaced irrespective of their faith. Even Bill Maher knows this, but as we say in street parlance, agenda must agend.
From Katsina to Zamfara, Niger, and other northern states, bandits have attacked mosques, killing Muslim worshippers even while they prayed. That is what makes Bill Maher’s statement, and the claim of some Western commentators about a so-called jihad war in Nigeria, not just misleading but laughable.
It is now that I truly feel Donald Trump’s pain, and why he never hid his disdain for fake news. Perhaps Bill Maher thought that by claiming a Christian genocide in Nigeria, Christians would rise up against Muslims and the country would collapse. After all, foreign experts once predicted that Nigeria would disintegrate in 2015. I am sure they are still surprised that the country remains standing strong despite its numerous challenges.
If there is anything I have deduced from Bill Maher’s fake news, it is that Nigerians are wiser now. Bill would be disappointed reading some of the comments from Christian Nigerians rubbishing his statement on social media. We know who our common enemies are when we see them.
Those killing innocent citizens in Nigeria are not Muslims, they are not Christians, they are not traditional worshippers. In truth, they are not even human, because they lack humanity. The only name of their religion is cruelty. They exist to maim, to massacre, and to tear apart the very fabric of our society. For me, this fight has always been less about religion or ethnicity and more about resource control and criminality. And it is just a matter of time before the wind blows and the fowl’s buttock is laid bare.
This is why it is dangerous when people like Bill Maher reduce a complex national tragedy into a simplistic religious headline. Such careless statements not only distort reality but also hand fuel to extremists and opportunists who thrive on division.
Bill Maher and his co-travellers in fake news want to feed off our ethnic and religious fault lines and sow more seeds of discord. We must resist this trap. Our story is ours to tell. If we allow foreigners to define our struggles, they will also define our destiny. Before they divide us further with their careless narratives, let us strengthen our unity, confront our challenges with honesty, and tell our story ourselves, because if we don’t, others will twist it against us.
As Chinua Achebe wisely said: “Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.”
Happy Independence to all of us. As e dey pain those like Bill Maher who want us divided, e go dey sweet us as we journey through our challenges towards a greater future (apologies to Wike).
“Though tribe and tongue may differ, in brotherhood we stand”.
Zayd Ibn Isah can be reached at lawcadet1@gmail.com
