Deliberate Misrepresentation of a Patriot

By Capt. Jauro Musa Liya (Rtd)

A soldier is trained to defend his country. This noble cause is a sacrifice that may lead to paying the ultimate price. The training of a soldier never envisaged a backlash from the fourth estate of the realm or a deliberate meddling and abuse of this sacrifice by some elements with intent to explore negative objectives. In a civilized clime, the media and civil populace hold its military in high esteem, defends its image and proudly props it as a symbol of strength and unity.

In Nigeria however, the military is callously being dragged into the mud slinging – all targeted at earning political scores.

From the professional formation of military officers or service men and women, – the rigorous regimental training of the military does not give room for learning the arts or tricks of verbal onslaughts and grandstanding.

However, current realities in Nigeria entails that the military must consider deliberate training on how best to defend it’s image and reputation in the face of a hostile operating media environment and political jobbers.

People like Mahadi Shehu who sadly made spurious and malicious allegation against the Army Chief and then turned around to deny it, are just an example of how low the people can go in smearing others’ hard earned reputation.

This terrible kind of attitude or behavior of some irresponsible members of the civil populace has become one too many to deal with. And the danger is that insurgents and other criminal elements find this misrepresentation of facts and a misinformed public a fertile ground for their activities.

I, sometimes wondered how and why should the media misrepresents credible and patriotic members of the society? Hence, the occasional media backlash against the Army Chief and the activities of all those who are bent on portraying this government as a failure, is indeed a serious crime against Nigeria of our dream and the sacrifice of our heroes. It is also an act of sabotage on the war against insecurity, which by the way exposes our moral weakness as a nation.

It really does not augur well when people that are supposed to be part of nation building divert attention to politically motivated criticisms, quoting and insinuating the military leadership out of context at will, condemning the high achievements and successes, denigrating the institution of the military, and specifically targeting the Army Chief as a subject of jaundiced media narrative just to drive home their point for political gains and other ephemeral benefits. This kind of behavior is a serious security threat which must be addressed.

A typical example played out recently when the Army Chief addressed the press after briefing the President and Commander- in- Chief on his return from Katsina where he flagged off Exercise SAHEL SANITY. The Chief of Army Staff does not just speak like an outsider who has no authoritative information. He said “99%” or even “100%” of the bandits are Nigerians. He based his claim as someone from the field, and as an officer with enough intelligence at his disposal. Many sit in the comfort of their rooms far away from where these operations are taking place and wrongly or mischievously say or project false information to counter the statement of the Army Chief. On whose reports are such kind of people relying to condemn the efforts of the security agencies or the points raised by the army chief?

The politically motivated media or self acclaimed security analysts in their bid to distort facts and incite or misinformed the people, have jettisoned decorum, civility, reliable data and objective analysis which are the hallmark of information dissemination.
It should be noted that it is always easier to criticize than to proffer solutions. Ironically, those who are acting to proffer solutions are ridiculed while those criticizing make headlines in the newspapers. Sometimes, the headlines are clear misrepresentations and are maliciously propagated to misinformed and set fear amongst the people. Such conducts is like setting the cat among the pigeons, as the insurgents and other criminal elements find this squabbles a fertile ground for their survival and exploits.

It is my candid opinion that it is high time to end the spate of insecurity in Nigeria through collective efforts, harmonious cooperation and regular communication/interactions between the civil populace and the Armed Forces of Nigeria. Giving and sharing of credible information is key to ending the insurgency and other criminal activities. The difficulty being experienced now by the military and other security agencies in combating insecurity can be resolved if the civil populace cooperate and avail information about the criminal elements who live amongst them. The appeal by the Army Chief has again been deliberately misunderstood and blown out of context rather than getting us to act. Nigerians must spare some time to consider the bold and frank plea of the Army Chief to the effect that all Nigerians should contribute meaningfully and sincerely to collectively defeat the myriad of security threats facing the country.