BBC Report
On Fake News Fueling Killings In Nigeria-A False And Untrue Report
---Intersociety
(Intersociety, Nigeria: 14th July 2018)-The report on 29th June 2018 by the British
Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to the effect that “fake news fuel
“herders-farmers clashes” (terror Fulani violence against Nigeria’s rural
Christian farmers, their lands, houses and churches) in Nigeria; upon which the
Federal Government of Nigeria’s Minister of Information recently launched what
he calls “national campaign against fake news and hate speeches”; is statistically
false and untrue report. See the following link for full details of the BBC
report: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-44655148.
The BBC report only cited few cases of use, especially
by social media activists, of incident photos of violence not connected or
linked to Nigerian killings (i.e. killing of rural Christian farmers or rival
Muslim killings in Zamfara State in connection with cattle theft and farmland
related violence in the State), but failed woefully to provide unassailable
statistics showing high incidence of reprisal attacks by the victims’
communities against their attackers (Fulani Jihadists) and proportionate casualty
figures from the killers and retaliators; or clear evidence of instances
where the victim rural Christian communities originally initiated the
killings; so as to truly give the killings the colour of “herders-farmers
clashes”.
The BBC report also failed to provide its global
readers and listeners including the Nigerian Government with concrete evidence
showing the faith representation of the victims of terror Fulani Jihadists
attacks such as: the number of northern Muslim rural farmers and their Mosques killed
and destroyed or burnt by aggressor Fulani Jihadists under the colour of Fulani
Herdsmen. Failure of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to furnish its
global readers and listeners with such concrete facts totally makes its
referenced report blatantly false and untrue.
In the research and investigative findings of various
local and international research and investigative organizations including US
Committee on Foreign Relations, Amnesty Int’l, Christian Solidarity Worldwide
and Open Doors Int’l, which we evaluated recently, the killings in Nigeria are
not only solely carried out by armed Muslim militant groups, but also rural
Christians, their lands and churches are the sole target of the Fulani Jihadist
violent attacks. In all the killings perpetrated by Fulani Jihadists using the
colour of Fulani Herdsmen, there was no single report of Muslim farmers killed
and their Mosques destroyed or burnt, yet there are millions of Muslim farmers
in the North with thousands of Mosques around them. The killings in Zamfara
State are purely Muslim-Muslim affair especially when the State is mostly
Muslims.
Therefore, merely citing the use of “incident photos
not linked to a particular incident being reported” as basis to draw a general
reportorial conclusion that “fake news fuel killings in Nigeria” is totally
shocking and unbecoming of “BBC news reports”. This is more so when it does not
require a rocket science to determine the sources, dates and locations of video
clips or photos used in a particular incident report. It is a common knowledge
that ICT devices or applications abound electronically or online to determine
their authenticity. Besides, there are hundreds of photos and video clips
circulating online and originally linked to recent anti Christian killings
particularly in Benue State.
It is also found that Nigerian Government and
its security agencies’ censorship and alleged evidence erasure policy have
forced some citizens especially social media activists to use or share
photos of other incidents to convey their messages of sadness over the
untamed religious massacre in northern Nigeria. This is more so when relatives
and communities and faith associates of the slain victims of anti Christian
butchery as well as independent media are not allowed to profile and bury their
dead. A clear case in point was in Plateau State where no fewer than 238
rural Christians killed on 23rd and 24th June 2018 by
Jihadist Fulani Brigades were not allowed to be profiled and given befitting
burial by their families and faith associates.
The Government of Nigeria is also reported to have
gone as far as using threats and physically force and censorship to discourage
independent reports of the killings while reportedly encouraging the same media
to increase similar reports of Muslim-Muslim killings in Zamfara State to
create international image impression that “killings are not anti Christians
and that Muslims are also killed”. Actual casualty figures of those killed are
rarely reported or wantonly mangled following pressures from above. In some
cases, such killings go unreported and unrecorded.
There are no concrete or statistical evidence, till
date, provided by the BBC or Government of Nigeria showing how “fake news” has
escalated the killings in northern Nigeria especially in old Middle Belt where
thousands of rural Christians, their lands, churches and homes are killed and
destroyed yearly. Reprisals by the victims’ communities are near-totally
absence, as recently reported by the Christian Solidarity Worldwide, “out of
seven (five in the north and two in the south) reprisals by the victims’
communities since January, only 61 attackers (Fulani Herdsmen) were killed”;
out of thousands of rural Christians killed.
Finally, though use of fake news and fake photos and
video clips in particular incident report is strongly condemned, but the United
Kingdom, where the BBC operates and owes allegiance to its Government, is also
guilty of fake news. As a matter of fact, fake news generates millions of
pounds into its national economy. A clear case in point in the same country is
the legitimized “rumour sporting culture” in its football players’ transfer
window or market season where fake news associated with same is allowed and
used to rake in millions of pounds into the UK economy. Sporting fake news with
a false title such as “Cristiana Ronaldo set to play for Manchester United this
season” not only generates high reading traffic but also increases sales of
newspapers or internet subscription in UK.
Signed:
Emeka Umeagbalasi, Board Chairman
Int’l Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of
Law
Mobile Line: +2348174090052
Ndidiamaka Chinaza Bernard, Esq.
Head, Int’l Human Rights & Justice Program
BBC Lied on this ---------------Intersociety
Reviewed by Unknown
on
Monday, July 16, 2018
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