Close look at Fatanmi’s “Nigerian Media on a Nation-Wrecking Mission”, by Prince Ade
“Just before I go far from here, let me ask: Did that speech by President Donald Trump actually reflect what the Nigerian Press especially PUNCH gave impression that he said? The answer is no. This is what a Nigerian in The Diaspora, United Kingdom, Caxton Fatanmi, has described as “Nigerian Media on a Nation-Wrecking Mission”, which is a very unfortunate complimentary for such a supposedly respectable, noble profession. But could Caxton Fatanmi be said to be wrong?”
I woke upon Tuesday to a very sad reality of another controversy in our air waves as Nigerian Press told us that United States President Donald Trump had decided to take side with Christians of Nigeria saying what mattered to him was the number of Christians killed in the killing spray in the country but that he had nothing to do with the innocent Muslims that were killed.
These were the news reported to us by our own local Almighty Media of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from where we derive the only official information that we require to live our lives. For feeding us with twisted, half truth and, in some other cases, sentimentally reported news (if not fake), it means we have invariably lived our lives on fakeness or that we have lived a twisted life all along. Yet they, the media, are glorified as the Fourth Estate of the Realm. They are also known to be members of the noble profession, who had once been described by former Minister of Information Prince Tony Momoh as the only unhindered professionals with unrestricted chance to show the society the way to go.
Unfortunately, the media in Nigeria currently have chosen to mislead the people and they are even celebrating themselves for doing so. All along we have called the controversies that have rented our air waves as handiwork of dangerous rumour mongers. With the latest developments unfolding, it is now clear that what we blamed on rumour mongers is actually the twisting of information by the very media we look up to for accurate, undistorted, undiluted information.
Just before I go far from here, let me ask: Did that speech by President Donald Trump actually reflect what the Nigerian Press especially PUNCH gave impression that he said? The answer is no.
This is what a Nigerian in The Diaspora, United Kingdom, Caxton Fatanmi, has described as “Nigerian Media on a Nation-Wrecking Mission”, which is a very unfortunate complimentary for such a supposedly respectable, noble profession. But could Caxton Fatanmi be said to be wrong? See the following headlines:
- Killing of Christians in Nigeria must stop – PUNCH
- Protect Nigerians against spate of killings – TRIBUNE
- Killing of Christians unacceptable – VANGUARD
- Killing of Christians is unacceptable – The GUARDIAN
But was the impression created by these Nigerian newspapers headlines what Donald Trump really meant to say or really said? No. And it is ‘no’ in the sense that he actually spoke clearly without intent to make mischief. Trump said:
“All levels of governments in Nigeria local, district, national must work together to stop the killings of Christians and Muslims…”
Where is the place of what our local media flashed in all of this? Too bad!
Again, the question is:
The Nigerian in The Diaspora, Caxton Tatanmi, asked what could have informed these newspapers misrepresenting a straightforward statement by President Trump thereby creating a situation that many Nigerian Muslims have described the American President a divisive, emotionally charged and inflammatory person as they did?
Attention was even called to Vanguard and The Guardian which used the same headline thereby posing question as to whether they are owned by the same stable or led by the same Editorial Board? The questioner added that, “For a long time, I have held to the thought that the so-called menace of “Fulani Herdsmen” on the rampage was an invention of the media…These criminals are likely offshoots of Boko Haram, now expressing their enterprise of terror in other ways; or some sponsors are behind these unwarranted and criminal killings in some parts of Nigeria. I do not see professionalism in the behaviour of these media outfits,” Fatanmi said.
He said, “Rwanda started like this, before the pogrom. Every democracy needs a fair, honest and uncorrupted media. The Nigerian media is losing it, please…Corruption is not only material, you are also corrupt when you twist the truth to serve a nefarious end. This is what these Nigerian newspapers just did,” Caxton Fatanmi said.
In the build up to 2015 general elections the media hid under business to justify the paid adverts through people like Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose publicized “obituary” of the then Presidential Candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) General Muhammadu Buhari. We later knew later at the revelation by looters that Federal Government under Goodluck Jonathan and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) actually funded most of the hate speeches and fake news against Candidate Buhari and APC at the time.
Today, the members of the media community appear to have chosen to take part in the anti-Buhari struggle of the Third Force led by former President Olusegun Obasanjo and they are offering those services of hate speeches, fake news and twisted information free of charge. Unfortunately, the press seem to be getting their inspiration from the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and this has become more glaring in how at any given opportunity the pastors in CAN has hurled abuses and other negative political slogans against Buhari like they did during the last Sunday nationwide protest over the killing of two Christian clerics in Makurdi, Benue State. For a CAN member, who is a bishop to sing “Buhari must go” and in other places for pastors to issue statement that “Buhari should forget the votes of Christian in 2019” over political killings that are clear to them but which they chose to blame on innocent Fulani herdsmen of Nigeria.
But those have failed to touch anything in the achievements of globally acknowledged integrity and applause that President Muhammadu Buhari has garnered. When he travelled to attend the last Commonwealth meeting in Buckingham, the statement he made about the attitude of some Nigerian youths was twisted. Hardly did we detect it was the work of the Nigerian Press. We were blaming it on the wailers and PDP fighting tooth and nail to escape justice over their loots being currently handled by the President. They also joined forces to interpret the President’s comment about how “irresponsible politicians” incited the killings in the country but that “militants trained by Gaddafi” in Libya who got themselves one way of the other into Nigeria worsened the situation.
They said the President was incompetent to have said such a thing and Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe of Buhari’s APC-led Bukola Saraki’s Senate declared on the floor of the Senate that for making such statement the President was “incompetent”. Ovie Omo-Agege countered Abaribe correcting the impression that Buhari was incompetent. That was the offence Omo-Agege committed against Saraki that he not only suspended Omo-Agege but also he went ahead to disband pro-Buhari group in the Senate. What it meant was that Saraki would also silence any Senate that publicly supports the President and he has been doing this with his deliberate killing of two anti-corruption Bills the President sent to him since 2015 which he refused to allow see the light of the day.
As if to give strength to Saraki and his cohorts that is the PDP Senators in the Senate to continue in their efforts to upturn the government, DG DSS reportedly deployed operatives said to be masked on Wednesday in a circumstance described by The DEFENDER’s report as uncertainty. Was the deployment to stop Saraki from further harassment of Senators expressing their democratically guaranteed freedom of expression and association? Or it was done to give Saraki more power to carry on with his impunity and disrespect for the court of law and if anybody would check him the security operatives would have been handy to stop the check. The uncertainty was further confirmed by the fact that Daura had been allegedly said to be in cordial relationship with Saraki which almost enabled their collaboration to remove EFCC acting Chairman Ibrahim Mustapha Magu while President Buhari was taking care of his sudden ill health in London until the President returned and stopped them.
One fantastic thing about the President is that, he is never a man given to cowardice. In the US, he repeated what he said of the killers from Libya and repeated himself about the nature of some Nigerian youths and all of these, that were twisted by our Nigerian Media when said in the United Kingdom, were agreeable to Trump. His integrity has been noticed globally that world leaders have not only branded him an ideology but also are now inviting him to their respective countries with a view to cementing military, economic and social ties with him and by extension his country. Which was what led to United States President Donald Trump personally initiating an invitation of President Muhammadu Buhari to his country’s Seat of Power in Washington which happened on April 30, 2018.
During the visit, President Trump had a joint press conference with his visiting Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari. Trump said many things making the Buhari’s visit to the US a too loaded one with many great, positive things accruing to Nigeria from the visit. One of them is the boost that the President’s war against terrorist received with Trump reopening the helicopter gunships purchase blocked by former President Barrack Obama on human rights concern. He now sealed that not only would Nigeria get delivery of those Tucano helicopters but also that his country would now support Nigeria with full military and intelligence training and equipment.
Another take away from the Buhari’s visit to US is the looted $500 million (N190 billion) Nigerian monies that America had now released to the country on the understanding that the money was in safe hands. There were more which include $1 billion annual subvention and billions of dollars American investments that the Triump Administration had promised to now be pumped into the Nigerian economy.
This is called “the power of integrity”. Yes. And it is so in the sense that Buhari is a man that all of these have been done for by Donald Trump, who have always snubbed Angela Markel of Germany in White House refusing to shake her hands in Oval Office, shocked President Al Sisi of Egypt telling him point blank in White House that he would cut aid to Egypt, called North Korean leader Kim Jung Un the ‘Rocket Man’, chastised President Putin of Russia heaping sanctions on his close associates, called out Teresa May of Britain, criticized China and its leaders, took a risk of trade war with China, called Mexicans rapists, drug peddlers and branded them with unsavoury names to the extent of even planning to build a wall restricting Mexico to itself. He fought American footballers who refused to honour their anthem, he is fighting the largest media platform, CNN, fighting establishments in US such FBI, CIA, Judiciary and so on and so forth and has knocked the NATO allies, threatened Iran, shot into Syria, fights appointees if need be, called Black Americans ‘Lazy’ before his election, called African nations ‘shithole’ and is not afraid to tell it to you, no matter who you are because he is the potus. He says it exactly the way it is, snubs, bullshits even world leaders. He rarely gives compliments.
BUT in the case of the Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, when he met him on April 30, everything changed. President Trump was so excited that he could not control his excitement during the joint press conference he had with at Oval Office in the White House, Washington, to the extent that he was even longing for a ‘selfie’/close shot, smiling to the camera. Meaning it was deliberate.
This same American President Donald Trump gave Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari full presidential compliments he has hardly given any other leader since assuming office. He didn’t stop there, he went on and on with eternal compliments. Buhari became a Rock Star to Trump.
But WHY? The honour and unusual integrity, dedication and commitment of a black man. Finally he said, “I have tremendous respect for President Muhammadu Buhari”. He also said, “Buhari is a honest and great leader Africa has produced.” He said, “For your sake, I will like to visit Nigeria pretty soon” even as he also called President Buhari the Number one President of Africa, adding that “Keep your honour. It will speak for you someday”.
Now, if the haters’ hero (Trump) can say all of these about our President, why should I attempt to vote for another? Why should I be told by some kind of Third Force Mr. Coalition how not to support him seeking re-election?
It took a 75-year-old President to attract such an honour to Nigeria, what far younger ones couldn’t do for years. It is an honour for us all; all Nigerians not for President Muhammadu Buhari alone.
So, the Nigerian Media are advised to change attitude and now reconsider presenting themselves as partners in progress rather than the pro-looters and pro-law breakers that they have been popularly been seen to be over the times. This is my word to all for the love of country because,
…a stitch in time saves nine!
