That Vanguard's Article That Kills Faster Than #BokoHaram

So I stumbled on an article on Facebook yesterday and I was taken aback by the content of the article.

With the advent of technology, it is now very easy to spread news and share ideas without stress... Every Dick and Harry has a blog and they spread news with no restrictions.

But amidst "all of that" I think the standard of genuine journalism should be on a pedestal. I never expected such an article from Vanguard- a respected media house in Nigeria. What was their editor thinking? Perhaps he/she was busy eating fufu while they published the article.

The title of the article is When Will The Igbo Presidency Be? The title of the article alone, let off reading it, triggers and instigates terrible ideas that can bring about war and separation. This kind of article is not meant to be published. Was the Editor naive or did he/she publish this article on purpose?....Articles like this shows the alarming increase in the level of mediocrity in Nigeria journalism.

Below are excerpts from the article;

"Igbo nation needs to re-invent itself, it needs holistic reorientation and strategic repositioning. The Igbo people need political pragmatism to enable them take their authentic political position after the tenure of Ebele Jonathan or Buhari, which is the producing of the Executive President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria."

"Specifically,   it is their turn to produce the next President of Nigeria. It was a great disservice to the Igbo course and it is tantamount to cowardice and judgmental fallacy for Igbo leaders to have called and supported the then Third Term Agenda and political escapades of the then President Obasanjo. Indeed, the Pan-Igbo socio-cultural and political organization the Ohaneze Ndigbo, their Governors, Legislators and Igbo leaders were consummately indictable."

"The Igbo people will continue to stew in the political slavery in Nigeria because they cannot take the bull by the horn and drive it out of their political china shop. What a shame! They should however, note that, if they fail to produce the next President after Ebele Jonathan or Buhari, they will continue to dwell in the epicenter of political limbo in Nigeria."

And considering the fact that we are so gullible in Nigeria, war of words had already started in the comment section long before I finished reading the article.

This is saddening because it is the insane articles like this one that divides and kill the nation, not Ebola nor the #BokoHaram bombs. We need to watch our utterances, think before you say anything or write anything on social media because words are very powerful and they can go a long way in making or breaking people around us.

I believe we can make things work if we connect with each other and put aside our cultural differences.

PS: You may check out the full article here: When Will The Igbo Presidency Be?

Sadiq Daniel is a certified Crazy Writer and Teens Coach that blogs on business, Self- development, Life lessons and Ideas that challenges the status quo... You can pursue him for speaking engagements or send him money on Twitter: @sadiqspeaks LinkedIn: Sadiq Daniel and Email:Sadiqdaniel@gmail.com

BOKO HARAM SET TO ATTACK LAGOS & IBADAN- Pan-Yoruba group warns

A new pan-Yoruba group, Apapo Oodua Koya, (AOKOYA) said today that it has “trusted” information that Boko Haram, the dreaded extremist Islamic group, is likely to attack Lagos and Ibadan in the next few days or in the month of July.

“Boko Haram thinks the best way to get attention is through sustained attacks, but the surest way to dominate national discuss and stir critical opinions is to take the battle to the country’s economic hub, which is Lagos and Ibadan,” the group said in a statement in Ibadan signed by its Secretary for Internal Affairs, Alhaji Mufatau Adedoyin.
  

“That is the new thinking of the Boko Haram leadership.”
AOKOYA expressed regret that the political leadership of the South West has no concrete plans to curtail the “almost inevitable” suicide bomb attacks that the Islamic group may unleash on the largely urbanized Yoruba region.
It said that the frequent activities of Boko Haram in Kogi State, plus last weekend’s bomb attacks on Kaduna city are clear indications that cities in South West Nigeria must be prepared for their own dose of suicide attacks from Islamic fundamentalists pushing for sectarian leadership of the country.  The group described the bombing of ECWA church in Kaduna as a calculated attack on the Yoruba people, as they are the most notable worshipers in ECWA churches across the country.
Said the statement: “We have intelligence information that Boko Haram will attack the largely vulnerable Yoruba cities on or before the month of July this year. We fear the carnage that will result from violent attacks on Yoruba cities. It is naïve to assume that Boko Haram will spare Lagos, Ibadan, Warri or any of the Yoruba cities. At present, the Yoruba political leadership relies on the Nigerian Police and the State Security Service, (SSS). These groups are too polarized, corrupt, inept, politicized, ill-motivated and hunted by low morale to be able to offer any hope for the Yoruba people.”
AOKOYA, which describes itself as a Yoruba self-determination group, noted that as Nigeria inches towards 100 years of the forceful amalgamation of the country by imperial lords, “the dissolution of the country should be a natural expectation given the tear, sorrow and blood” that has been Nigeria’s story since 1914.
“There cannot be any redeemer for a nation that is destined and designed to collapse,” it said. “We urge the Yoruba people to rise up and work hard to ensure minimum casualty in our search for the inevitable Oduduwa Republic. We seek alliance with the Middle-Belt, Igbos and the South-South, for the greater future of a traumatized population that have been pushed into the cesspool of underdevelopment, hunger and starvation in the hands of a hateful social and political system that offers nothing but destruction and the spilling of human blood.”
Calling for the assistance of the international community to Nigeria “to prevent the carnage that may arise from the inevitable break-up of the country,” AOKOYA said the bombings will not abate simply because the social and political contradictions of a diverse, plural society being forced to live under one law and value has reached its breaking point.
“The issue is no longer whether the country will break-up, the real issue now is when and how,” the statement said.  “The people face the grim reality of either a violent break-up or ceaseless confrontation with blood and anguish in the hands of extremist forces.”
Culled from Sahara Reporters.