All talks about insecurity in Nigeria high octane propaganda, by Mfon Offiong

INSIDE: Bigots are the problem, not religion or tribe

Bandits are carrying out hit and run in rural and remote areas. Thats testimony to how secure the couhtry is. Sheikh Gumi recently said the bandits don’t feel safe to surrender. Security is when criminals feel unsafe to operate freely…That Nigeria is now safer than the U.S. is a fact.

All the talks about insecurity in Nigeria is high octane propaganda.

IPOB cannot burn down police station and PMB will be blamed for it. APC should find a way to put PDP on the spot as the enablers of IPOB’s rascality because they are the sympathizers of IPOB which doubles as their youth wing in the south east when needed.

Apart from the occasional PDP inspired IPOB menace, the south east is safer and more peaceful than it was between 2007 and 2015.

Akwa Ibom and Cross River are safer and more peaceful than they were between 2007 and 2015.

Abuja is more secure and peaceful now than it was between 2010 and 2015. They are not talking about that.

Bandits are carrying out hit and run in rural and remote areas. Thats testimony to how secure the couhtry is. Sheikh Gumi recently said the bandits don’t feel safe to surrender. Security is when criminals feel unsafe to operate freely.

We are now deploying security assets to the forest, bush and remote areas, not to cities. That shows this administration has done a lot in the area of security and will do more.

That Nigeria is now safer than the U.S. is a fact.

Bigots are the problem, not religion or tribe

Bigotry can also be ethnic. In Rwanda for instance, over 95% of them are Christians yet the Hutus killed about 800,000 Tutsis (one tenth of the population of Rwanda and 70% of the Tutsi population) in a space of 100days; Christians killed Christians.

Religion is not Nigeria’s problem. Other successful nations are religious too. Japan for example has Shinto as its original religion while Buddhism was imported. Japanese are religious and are successful. In Dubai (UAE) and Turkey, their religion is Islam and they are peaceful and successful. The problem is not religion but religious bigotry.

The same Buddhism that Japanese are practicing peacefully is what those who carried out genocide and ethnic cleansing against the Rohingyas In Myanmar practice. It’s not about the religion but the people. Bigotry can also be ethnic. In Rwanda for instance, over 95% of them are Christians yet the Hutus killed about 800,000 Tutsis (one tenth of the population of Rwanda and 70% of the Tutsi population) in a space of 100days; Christians killed Christians. In Somalia, they are not just 99% Muslims but 98% Sunni Muslims, yet they have been killing themselves since 1991; Sunni Muslims are killing Sunni Muslims.

In Nigeria, the problem is bigotry. Sometimes, it manifests as religious bigotry. At other times, its ethnic bigotry. Just as one cannot claim that ethnicity is a problem because some people are ethnic bigots, it is not logical to conclude that religion is a problem in Nigeria because some people are religious bigots. Clearly, bigots, not religion or tribe are the problem and we need to start calling out bigots because they are very dangerous instead of white washing them with the activists’ nomenclature.

Let me address another nomenclature the modern-day bigots use in Nigeria which is self-determination.

Anyone from any major tribe in Nigeria claiming self-determination as alibi is engaging in bigotry. How can a Yoruba man whose brothers and sisters populate oil companies in the South South region more than any tribe claim that Nigeria is oppressing his tribe? Bola Tinubu for instance owes some of his successes today to his employment in Mobil, an oil company operating in Akwa Ibom state. Governor Makinde of Oyo state said that he became rich through a contract he executed for Mobil in Akwa Ibom state. The state of Lagos receives more money from the income tax of oil company workers than the entire states in the South South where the oil is produced because most oil workers live in Lagos. How can such a people claim they are oppressed?

I dare say that Yorubas and Igbos make up 80% of the workforce in Nigeria’s telecom companies, banks and other financial institutions where the pay is good. Igbos control 70% of the importation business in Nigeria in Lagos, a city far outside their South East zone. Therefore, IPOB’s claim of self-determination is bigotry.

Likewise, a lot of south south people are very successful in Nigerian zones outside the south south. Delta state in the south south for instance seem to have the highest number of billionaire bank directors in Nigeria compared to other states, and those banks are based in Lagos. Jim Ovia, Tony Elumelu are few examples. Nigeria is not stopping the aspirations of anyone from the south south.

Nigeria as a country has not stopped anyone from expressing their religious, cultural, traditional or political rights. Minorities have ruled this country. Yakubu Gowon who ruled the country for 9years is a minority from the north. Goodluck Jonathan who ruled the country for about 6years is a minority from the south. Everyone, no matter their tribe has the right to vote and be voted for in Nigeria. From 1999 till date, Igbos have produced Senate presidents, deputy senate president, secretary to the federal government, deputy speaker, super ministers etc. Yorubas have produced the president, vice president, speakers, super ministers. Hausa-Fulani are even accused of being the ones in control of the nation’s politics so I do not see how any Hausa-Fulani man can rise tomorrow and claim self-determination and a serious press will take him seriously.

Obviously, some individuals from major tribes in this country claiming to be engaged in self-determination activities are big time bigots not activists engaging in self-determination. Neither religion nor ethnicity is a problem in Nigeria but bigotry. So please, call a spade a spade, and a bigot a bigot.