A middle age man from Edo state disguised in kaftan and turban has been arrested while attempting to set ablaze a church in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state capital. The SSS confirmed the suspect has nothing to do with the radical Islamic sect, Boko Haram, as he was a Christian from Edo state.
Had it been this man was successful, this attack might have been blamed on Boko Haram and Muslims and Islam will then take the fall. And probably, creating a religious conflict. This is not the first time such a thing happened, some months ago, a Christian woman was also caught in Bauchi trying to burn down a church.
What I want people to understand here is, all these things happened , but with the exclusion of daily trust newspaper, non of our media outlets is giving emphasis to this news, not even our so called ‘political blogs’ (sahara reporters, omojuwa.com etc). If this political blogs are not having any problem propagating news such as ‘boko haram has claimed so so attack’ why don’t they report this side of the story as well? If the attack had been successful they will be the first to report and condemn Boko Haram, after all the only evidence they stick to is a self confession by the sect through a phone call, what they forget is everybody can make that call and claim its Boko Haram.
This is an issue the northern people MUST not take for granted. Because they have everything to lose with such allegations pointed there way. This is a psychological warfare with the media as a weapon. The northerners MUST learn to use media to their advantage. They shouldn’t sit around and wait for others to feed them false information. Because media propaganda is now the best means through which you can impose your beliefs on people. With it you can create a hero and vilify an enemy. But if we continue to let them have it their way, reporting the version of the news that favors them and hiding some reports, we will continue to be relegated to the background.
The time for a media revolution in the north has arrived. We MUST be able to provide our people with true and complete information to free them from the massive hypnosis they are under created by ‘half-truth’ media. We need sound media to educate and enlighten our people. Our northern elites should engage in the media business by establishing TV and radio stations as well as newspaper houses.
The social media is also as important. Currently there are many news reporting websites and political blogs existing which we respect so much, mostly owned by our brothers from the south. Our people should be encouraged to engage in the use of social media to enlighten the dunce amongst us. And also encourage the few existing bloggers we have.
We should join hands to create a bias free media that will not only report the whole truth but also defend the interest of the entire nation not part of it.
You can do your part by tweeting about this write-up and broadcasting this link on your bbm and facebook.
Long Live a United Nigeria.
