THE POOR PROTEST LETTER ON NIGERIA: A SPIN YARN SPICED TO SPARK A STRIFE
THE POOR PROTEST LETTER ON NIGERIA: A SPIN YARN SPICED TO SPARK A STRIFE
THE POOR PROTEST LETTER ON NIGERIA: A SPIN YARN SPICED TO SPARK A STRIFE
By Bala Ibrahim
A protest letter is currently circulating on the social media, purportedly written by one Nwankwo Tony Nwaezeigwe, PhD, to the United States Secretary of State, against the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr.Richard Mills.
Mr. Nwankwo, claimed to be the President of the International Coalition against Christian Genocide in Nigeria. In his narration, Mr. Nwankwo portrayed Nigeria as a country under siege, by a group of people, including the President, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who seem resolute, and utterly unswerving, in the execution of an agenda for the extermination of all Christians in Nigeria. He accused Ambassador Mills of hobnobbing with those he perceived as anti-christians, principal of which are members of the Miyetti Allah. Apart from a biblical quote, everything in the letter is trumped-up to trick Trump, through the U S Secretary of State, into believing that in Nigeria, there is a genocide agenda.
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The genuine biblical quote, which was taken from the Acts of the Apostles Chapter 16 verses 25 and 26 reads:
“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.” Nwankwo’s innuendo here is to tell President Trump that, like Paul and Silas prayed for their freedom from the Roman dungeon, Nigerian Christians, including his presumed humble self, also prayed, unceasingly he said, for his election, with the believe that in him lies their hope for freedom from the on-going kidnappings and killings by Muslim terrorists in Government and in the bushes of Nigeria.
The letter painted a terrible picture of Nigeria’s President, Nigeria’s Vice President, the National Security Adviser and the Miyetti Allah, the famous Fulani Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria. Since Mr. Nwankwo is good with the Bible, let me refer him to Proverbs 12:22, which says: “The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy.”
I don’t know what exactly the PhD in Mr. Nwankwo’s name stands for, but if it’s an acronym for the Doctor of Philosophy, as is obtained in the academia, then I make bold to say he is academically bankrupt, because people with PhD are suppose to be knowledgeable, realistic, and conversant with the fundamentals of life, particularly in areas that are considered essential in academic discipline. PhD holders should be critical in thinking, reasoning, and decision making. His portrayal of the Presidency, under His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as a secret political clique, that is doing away with Christians in Nigeria, is nothing but a spin yarn that is spiced to spark a strife in the country. Unfortunately, because of his ill knowledge and ill sophistication in the understanding of politics, he succeeded in exposing himself as a fool on errand. The task given to him, which is aimed at disuniting Nigerians, has failed and failed woefully.
I would educate Mr.Nwankwo with the meaning and mission of the Miyetti Allah in Nigeria, but before then, I want him to understand that, contrary to his skewed understanding of the crisis, as a targeted attempt by the Muslims to exterminate the Christians in Nigeria, a research, carried out by the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, under the caption, Body count and religion in the Boko Haram crisis, has said:
“Although it proved impossible to determine the religion of more than 60 per cent of the fatalities (mostly civilians), available demographic data were used to provide estimates. Despite an obvious increase in deadly attacks against Christian civilians, the combined data suggest that approximately two civilian victims out of three were Muslims. This challenges the commonplace temptation to understand the crisis in terms of a religious confrontation between Muslims and Christians.” This finding simply gives the lie to Mr. Nwankwo’s petition of senseless sentiment, which is biased, misleading in nature, and intended to promote a politically divisive agenda, to the detriment of peace in Nigeria.
It may interest Mr Nwankwo to know that, the Miyetti Allah is nothing but a partisan advocacy group that centers on promoting the welfare of the Fulani pastoralists in Nigeria. And it has been in existence since the early 70s. It became legally operational in 1979 and gained wider acceptance as an advocacy group since then. If Nwankwo and his co-travellers have a persistent feeling of ill will or resentment against Ambassador Richard Mills, the US envoy to Nigeria, they should look for another reason to malign him. Using religious or political sentiments, to smear an Ambassador, perhaps because he denied visas to some questionable members of a questionable group, can not trick Trump to turn against Nigeria. It’s nothing but a spin yarn spiced to spark a strife. And I say, sorry, wrong number!
THE POOR PROTEST LETTER ON NIGERIA: A SPIN YARN SPICED TO SPARK A STRIFE
