There is ground to doubt that the media, as the Fourth estate of the realm, has the capacity and moral obligation to educate and entertain, and also inform the people on issues of national importance for unity and peaceful co-existence without boundaries.
In the same vein, the media has the capacity to create awareness and inform citizens on Counter and Prevent Act of Terrorism, Kidnapping for Ransom, and Banditry by making them approachable enough so that every citizen can approach them with suggestions on how best to create an insecurity-free world.
In making reports on insurgency, kidnapping for ransom and banditry, the media should give adequate information on the activities of the hoodlums. Such reports should always be accurate and objective, free from sensationalism or religious bias.
It is not enough reporting on the surface as is obtained today like reporting a bomb blast that claimed some innocent lives, arrest of suspected insurgents, aerial bombing of insurgent’s hideouts, repealing of insurgents’ attacks, attack on military facilities etc
In the usual straight news reporting, it is the usual, he said, she said, eye witness said, from military spokesman: a usual reliable source confirmed etc, none of the reports ever goes further to give more than quotes from those in authority, the victims and sometimes the security operatives. What the public usually gets from mostly straight news stories are largely second-hand reports that hardly give insights into the real issues at stake.
A journalist who knows his onions should not always be neutral in his reportage when the security of the nation is under threat and the people are ruthlessly and mercilessly being butchered by insurgents, kidnappers, and bandits’ bombs and bullets. The reporter should first consider it a duty to report the killings objectively and subjectively, provided it is the truth with documentary evidence.
Journalists should find out through discreet investigation what has emboldened Boko Haram and other criminal gangs to escalate attacks instead of retreating going by the stories dished out by those in authority. Why are bandits having field days and kidnappers for ransom unrelenting with new tactics of abductions daily introduced? Furthermore, they should present their findings to the public for the formation of serious decisions on the best way out of the quagmire.
It is apparent also for Northern Nigerian leaders and politicians at this critical point to call an emergency regional meeting to harness and dispassionately x-ray the problem of Boko Haram, Lakurawa and ISWAP insurgencies, rampant cases of kidnapping and banditry which are fast turning the region to nothingness in terms of infrastructure, investment, unity and general development.
The ongoing destruction of lives and properties in the region has the tendency of eroding bequeathed legacies of past leaders and setting the region 40 years back in all sectors. Whatever the governors of the region are doing in terms of development without checking the menace of insurgents and other criminal elements is amounting to a fruitless effort.
Since the firing of the first shot by Boko Haram in 2009 signaling a war with Nigeria, several suggestions were proffered to government on the best ways to contain and defeat the insurgents, put the records straight for the good of the country and move forward. In most cases, those suggestions were either ignored by those in authority for pecuniary interest, or underrated from ignorance, or grossly misunderstood, spiced with greed and lust for wealth, and other obvious reasons that landed us where we are today. Whoever says Boko Haram and ISWAP insurgency, kidnapping for ransom, and banditry, including ethno-religious crisis, have terminal dates with the present style of operation from those in authority must be a runaway psychiatric patient. The ongoing conventional warfare (Kinetic approach), embarked upon by our security agents against Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists will never be the solution to the end.
Boko Haram and ISWAP insurgents, bandits and kidnappers for ransom are guerilla fighters. They prepared for the fight, stockpiled arms, trained their fighters, including suicide bombers and spies, before daring Nigeria. Boko Haram erroneously and ignorantly belief they are fighting a holy war while kidnappers for ransom are for economic benefits and bandits for show of fighting skills and economic gains.
Their members were and are still being brain-washed, hypnotized and deceived to believing falsehood as truth. Boko Haram sees any conventional government other than that of their dream as that of infidels (Dabutu). They are heavily funded, supported and trained by our domestic and foreign detractors. These are facts that the National Security Advisor and Security Chiefs know and are determined to proffer immediate solutions.
They are facts at the public gallery that we all know. Why are we then still pretending that things are getting better while the situation gets messier every day? Agreed, the insurgents have been degraded, does that mean they have been defeated, surrendered or flushed out completely? The better we introduce other strategies to flush out the beasts than living in a world of illusion.
That reminds me of the need for the National Assembly, State Governors, Traditional and Religious leaders to join other patriots on how best to defeat the insurgents that are busy destroying the country with ease. Of all those mentioned, none can claim that few relations were not directly or indirectly affected by the brutal actions of the insurgents, kidnapping for ransom, and banditry. A Northern Regional Summit request targeted at the downtrodden that are the easy targets of attack and recruitment is there in the Office of the Senate Committee Chairman on National Security and Intelligence and Office of the National Security Advisor for sponsorship hold so as to educate and inform the vulnerable on the need to put a defense against their murderers. But any hope for the requested sponsorship of such a summit? And any concern to the plight of the people by those mentioned? We are watching!
From the behaviors of the present leaders, Nigerians, particularly those in the North-east, would not forget the threats issued by some sadists in 2011 that, should Goodluck Jonathan be elected as president, they would make the country ungovernable. True to their threat, there was a post-election violence in Bauchi State that claimed nine lives of NYSC members despite the fact that Jonathan’s opponent of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had won the election. Everything Jonathan did was heavily criticized and rubbished. If a Boko Haram member was killed, the sadists accused Jonathan of trying to wipe out the north.
Ironically, the same sadists who criticized Jonathan and never proffered any tangible solution on how best to defeat the insurgents, are now requesting Nigerians to support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to defeat the same insurgents, same kidnappers for ransom and same bandits. These are facts that should be highlighted by journalists to the public for their meaningful contributions as the proposed Regional Summit wants to achieve.
To this end, our leaders and the stakeholders particularly in the affected areas are not sincere to themselves and to the people in the fight against insurgency and other lingering security challenges.
Journalists should dig deep down to the roots of the modus operandi, operational bases, hideouts and sponsorship of insurgents, identify and expose the roots and realistically use different journalistic strategies to proffer solutions to curbing the menace for a better Nigeria.
My professional colleagues should wake up, the use of the military and other security agencies alone, cannot put a stop to the insecurity as expected. We should use our pens, venture into discreet investigations, expose their modus operandi, and publish the identities of their hidden sponsors, and leave the rest to the Government and God.
We have to wake up as members of the journalism profession and do the needful to salvage our country. Nigeria’s independence was gallantly fought by the journalists of that time. What stops us from following their footsteps to reclaim our country from brutal acts?
Muhammad is a commentator on national issues
