The uproar surrounding the arrest and detention of 3 Israeli filmmakers in Nigeria by the Department of State Services is unnecessary and misconceived. The desperate move exhibited by the trio in hastily releasing a video to paint the country and the intelligence agency in bad light further justifies an innate motive to cast aspersions.
It is regrettable that while many Nigerian patriots are assiduously banding together on the workability of the Nigerian nationhood through national cohesion and unity. However, some unpatriotic citizens whom we can refer to as Merchants of War, are deepening contradictions of the Nigerian state, promoting micro-nationalism, parochial ethnic identity. It is worthy to note, that the fight for growth and development of any country in the world usually encounters ill-willed obstacles aimed at hindering its actualization of nationhood and greatness. History is replete with records of struggles of nationhood for all countries globally.
The recent invasion of the Capitol Hill in Washington D.C, United States by aggrieved pro-Trump supporters on January 6, 2021 has showed that the level of a country’s development or its security force doesn’t equal to a definite success in securing peace and protecting lives and property in the said nation. The U.S which has a 2000-person force at the legislative complex failed to deploy them to maintain peace and foil any threat on government infrastructure even after days of preparation.
Fresh facts have emerged on how the NyesomWike and Okezie Ikpeazu, Governors of Rivers and Abia States respectively are the ones fuelling unrest in the North through forgingan unholy alliance with promoters of Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) all geared towards undermining the North.CNG is an amalgam of groups which had hitherto comprised of Arewa Citizens Action for Change (ACAC), ArewaStudent Forum (ASF) and Northern Elders Forum (NEF). CNG is naturally aligned to be a pro-government group but has recently been holding and organizing anti-government protest within the North-western region of the federation.
It beats my imagination how some individuals and, more surprising, media outfits jump at fleeting items of information and try to make a mountain out of a molehill of them. No thanks to the social media that have created space for all comers who now feed on the gullibility of some readers who might not be patient or lack the skill to read in-between the lines. Let it be known that reading in itself is one of the specialized set of language skills amongst others such as writing, speaking, and listening.
CNN published an investigation it conducted on the Lekki Toll Gate on Wednesday. The American news-based television channel’s investigation came after about 28 days after the incident. This report seeks to investigate CNN’s investigation on the following premise; (A) Jeff Koinange a CNN journalist was reprimanded by the Nigerian government over a report where he accompanied masked MEND guerillas to a camp where they were holding a number of Filipino hostages.
