On Wednesday morning, the headline that made top stories of virtually all news media was that of Nnamdi Kanu’s apology to Buhari and his leaders in Igbo land. To start making references to what brought Nnamdi to detention will be a waste of time cuz even the most uniformed citizen can give comprehensive illustration of the story .
But, what amazes an ‘ordinary’ reader of online news was that the news medias were breastfeeding the hungry mercies with different facts in news. While, some well-known news sources confirmed the news, others were saying the news is untrue. Junk journalism or political intoxication is the cause or what? Anyway, the funny part of the show was that, each reader put all believe in either of the two as in line with their personal bias.
With these two conflicting news, those readers that are philosophical in nature were very disturbed. By philosophical, I mean, those that love the truth and ‘whose heart is fixed on reality.’ The minds of such persons are diluted with contradiction, which have resulted or may/will result to chronic headache, on the one he or she should accept as the truth. Little wonder, Ayo Sogunro said: ‘Everything in Nigeria is going to kill you.’ The reliability and authenticity of Nigerian news is giving me serious headache. I pray this Nnamdi Kanu’s won’t kill me. Hope I’m not digressing? If I’m, please pardon me.
Back to the matter! The news about Nnamdi’s apology has caused a lot of hullaballoo on social media since its breaking. It has even led to online brawl between the protagonists and antagonists of the agitation. The news was so much trailed with mixed reactions by both angry and ‘non-thinking’ fellows.
Some never-say-die spirited Kanu loyalists were so much depressed and surprised about the news. Why? Some felt disappointed in their leader and were not too happy about the humiliating attacks by their online enemies. And some were of the believe that, the apology will put an end to what they’ve been long longing for, which may put them to shame and deny them in getting to their Promise Land.
To the pro-Biafran villain, it was their day of joy. They’ve started, without wasting time, to throw humiliating and abusive language at the forehead of the Biafrans. Many of them would say or had even said that the ‘Aluta’ spirit in Kanu is dying. They were making serious gest of them (Kanu and his supporters). Some said the Biafran agitators are nothing but day dreamers. They said he’s not strong enough to lead the agitation. Or better still, he is a coward. All these and many more words were used to mock their online antagonists (the Biafrans) with the mindset that, if the leader has apologized, what is left of the followers-in-struggle?
Let me draw your attention to the fact that many of those that made mockery of the Biafran Protestants, about the so called apology, are those who claim to be “Nation Builder”. They are those that claim to have the vision and passion for a better Nigeria. I would have loved to mention their names here but for some reasons, best known to me, I will not.
The question that has been disturbing my conscience is to ask the so called “Nation Builders” if that is a way to build our nation. I ask again, is that the way to promote better Nigeria? Let me answer the question for you, in case you don’t know or pretend not to know. Dear Sirs and Mas, that is not a way of promoting national unity, rather, it is one of those ways in which a nation can be led to eternal damnation. Making mockery, to the best of my understanding, is only one of the means of adding fuel to the fire of the agitation.
What is expected of a well-meaning Nigerian or “Nation Builder”: is to be calm, hopeful and prayerful in order for the candle of the agitation to burn down, when news of this nature breaks, not by devising words that may lead to the breakdown of the nation. Let’s even think of the repercussion of the ‘yeye’ noise, if the news is only one worthy of telling to the marines. Let’s begin to think, for there is nothing more dangerous than not thinking.
As we are still lost in the wilderness of doubt on the truth-validity of the said apology, let’s ponder on some salient issues about the news. What if the news is the gospel truth? What is the big deal? Is Nnamdi Kanu too big to apologize (even, Buhari, the number one citizen of Nigerian apologized to we ordinary citizens)? Will the apology even put an end to agitation? If it were true, is it not of advantage to the Nation as a whole?
These questions are begging for answers. One needs to answer the questions before coming online to cause unnecessary wahala. NB: I’m jotting the names of noise makers.
. Ogun is a Nigerian writer, blogger and socio-political commentator. He tweets via @feogun.
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