Radio Biafra International

04/16/2024

Here, you are presented with the orthodox tale of Oliver Twist, a classic novel by Charles Dickens, which takes us on a gripping journey through the gritty streets of Victorian London. The synopsis of the tale for you:
📖 Plot Summary: Oliver Twist, an orphan from birth, endures a harsh childhood at a “child farm” (orphanage) where food is scarce. One fateful night, after requesting a second helping of gruel, Oliver is sent to work as an apprentice to an undertaker. The mistreatment he suffers drives him to escape and head for London.
In the city, Oliver encounters the Artful Dodger, who introduces him to a house run by an “old gentleman” named Fagin. Here, Oliver discovers that the boys are trained pickpockets. During an outing, he witnesses them steal a handkerchief from Mr. Brownlow, an older adult, and runs away in fear.
Mr. Brownlow mistakenly believes Oliver is guilty and has him arrested. However, after learning more about Oliver’s background, Mr. Brownlow offers to care for him. Oliver assumes he’s free from Fagin and the pickpockets, but his knowledge of their crimes puts him in danger.
Nancy, a pr******te and mistress of one of Fagin’s men, Bill Sikes, is sent to take Oliver back to Fagin. She succeeds, and Oliver is sent on a burglary mission to the countryside around London. There, he is shot in the arm but is taken in by the Maylies family, whom he had attempted to rob. Meanwhile, Fagin and a man named Monks plot to reclaim him.

03/18/2024

South-East Lands Too Tiny For Grab For (Fulani) “Ranching/Settlements: Enugu, Abia, And Anambra Govts Must Back - Intersociety Strongly Warns. Onitsha, Eastern Nigeria, Monday, March 11, 2024
The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety); Nigeria’s leading Research and Investigative Human Rights and Democracy Advocacy Group since 2008, is bringing to the attention of Governors and Governments of Enugu, Anambra, and Abia States and those of Imo and Ebonyi to the fact that South-East landmass (measuring 29,525km2) is too tiny for grab for (Fulani) Ranching/Settlements (abuse of the constitutional Concurrent Legislative List) in any part of the Region. The Govs in question, particularly Gov Peter Mbah of Enugu State, are strongly advised to back off from any form of moves under whatever disguises or camouflages aimed at establishing herders’ settlements in any part of their respective States. These moves must be done away with in the entire South-East or be lawfully and popularly resisted. It has been observed by Intersociety since Dec 2023 and Jan and Feb 2024 that despite denials and reasons given by the Govs and their Governments or defenses publicly made to justify the widely suspected politically motivated moves to establish the so-called “non-native trailer parks” or “agro-industrial farms” or “mechanized farm settlements” or “ modern cow ranching,” etc.; most social clusters have remained saturated with solid suspicions that the Govs and their Governments are being economical with the truth. While such moves have clandestinely been intensified at the sub-state government level in Anambra State since 2022 through the Ministry of Homeland Security and its Commissioner in Enugu and Abia States, they are believed to have reared their ugly heads since Dec 2023 after the electoral apex court judgments in the 2023 governorship polls in the two States. These moves are made more suspicious going by the fact that these Govs and their Governments, particularly those of Enugu and Anambra, hardly speak out publicly in solid condemnation of jihadist Fulani Herdsmen violence in their respective States, including abductions and killings in captivity, sexual violence, open killings, property robberies and seizure and wanton destruction of farmlands and crops, etc.

Intersociety has recently traced the current food insecurity in Nigeria including shortages and price hikes to “Islamic-Fulanization” and terrorization of the country’s food baskets (.i.e. Ondo, Ogun and Oyo in South-West; Delta, and Edo in South-South; Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa, Kogi, and Niger in North-Central; Southern Kaduna and Southern Kebbi in North-West; and Taraba, Southern Borno and Northern Adamawa in North-East per Boko Haram and Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen). The moves by the named governors and their governments and the reasons given have also become more suspicious following disclosures by the governments of Enugu and Abia about the involvement of the federal government of Nigeria in the moves. While the Government of Enugu State said “it is planning to build a military base in Nimbo (Uzo Uwani) to protect its planned cow ranching and the people of the area,” the Government of Abia State said, “it is collaborating with the Federal Government to build a (non-native) trailer park at Aro-Ngwa.” The two explanations are utterly suspicious because, going by the provisions of Nigeria’s existing 1999 Constitution, it is outside the Legislative Mandate of any State to build a military base or get Federal Government approval or collaboration before building a trailer park on Concurrent Legislative List-controlled land spaces located off a Trunk A (federal) Road. Promising to “build a military base” is also sobriquet: “Fulanization” of the so called “modern cow ranching”, following brazen partisanship and deep distrust of the military by many citizens across the country since July 2015.

It is, therefore, most likely correct to say that the ongoing moves by the named Govs and their Governments are equivalent to “the Voice of Jacob and the Hands of Esau.” It must be clearly pointed out that it is the duties of the referenced Govs and their Governments, as Chief Security Officers of their respective States, to rise to the occasion to ensure the security and safety of those they were elected or selected to govern and protect including mustering enough political will to flush out marauding Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen wrecking havocs in farmlands located in communities across their States and restore farmers’ access to their farmlands and cultivated and harvested crops. The Govs and their Governments are also duty bound to ensure general security and safety of lives and properties in their domains and provide access to good roads, energy supply, ICT technologies, social amenities, and services, as well as modern urban and rural planning (.i.e., forest reserves and tree planting, etc.) to attract huge direct foreign investments (under public-private-partnership-PPP).

Fears Over State-Level Replication Of “Fulanized” Federal Agric Policies And Programs
The doubts and fears by members of the public, including cross sections of communal stakeholders, are also thickened due to partisan and segregated ways and manners in which the Federal Government of Nigeria handled its rural agricultural policies and programs since 2016 during which the then Government under Retired Major Gen Muhammad Buhari not only promoted primitive Fulani Cattle grazing and its networks as a national policy but also have it militarized. The then Government was also widely accused of promoting and protecting non-state actor terrorism perpetrated by Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen. As a matter of fact, chief among them was “RUGA,” a Fulani word for “human settlement using rural grazing routes.” Other “Fulanized” federal agric policies and programs included “Waterway Control,” “National Livestock Transformation Plan,” “Nigerian Military Ranching,” “National Cattle Ranching/Fulani Settlement programs,” “FADAMA,” etc. Findings by Intersociety across the South-East since 2017 have identified the “presence of Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen till date” in many, if not most, of the facilities used for the above, including critical formations of the Nigerian Security Forces (NSFs). Therefore, apart from the fact that the Nigerian Government under Retired Major Gen Muhammad Buhari brazenly abused such public responsibilities and trust under the Exclusive Legislative List; fears are thickening that such public policy and program blunders are being replicated by some State Govs and Governments; a brazen and impeachable abuse of the Concurrent Legislative List.

Enugu Worst Hit Over Strong Suspicions In Communal Land Grab For (Fulani) Ranching
Enugu State under Gov Peter Mbah is worst hit over solid suspicions in the State Government’s communal land grab/drives for (Fulani) Ranching or Settlements. The State Government under Peter Mbah has strongly and widely been accused of coercing some communities in the State with large acres of farm/bush/forest lands into ceding or surrendering large parts of them for “mechanized farming or “cow ranching,”; a move seen by many observers as a camouflage for “Jihadist Fulani settlements in the State.” Clear cases in point are Elugwu-Akwu-Achi in Oji River, Nimbo in Uzo Uwani, and reported others in Awgu, Nike (Enugu-East), Isi-Uzo, etc. Strong suspicions abound that such acres of communal lands, if ceded or “donated,” may end up as “Jihadist Fulani settlements” likely to have been disguised as “Enugu State Government Cow Ranching/Mechanized Farming/Agro-Industrial Settlements,” etc. Some natives of the affected communities spoken to by Intersociety also believed that the move by the State Government is politically motivated and likely linked to a “tenure-office-protection-deal” (if true). Intersociety has followed the development in Enugu State since Dec 2023 and January 2024, prompting her to launch an investigation during which some leaders of the affected communities expressed fear of being witch-hunted by the Government of Enugu State if they publicly or informally reject the land cession request.

Facts From “Ohege-Elugwu-Akwu Ancient Farm Settlement” In Achi-Oji River
The Ancient Kingdom of Achi in Oji River LGA is now divided into twelve autonomous communities under “Achi Agu (six autonomous communities)” and “Achi Uno (six autonomous communities)” or “Isii n’ uno, Isii n’ agu.” One of the twelve autonomous communities: “Elugwu-Akwu (Achi) Autonomous Community” under “Achi-Agu Division” in Oji River LGA of Enugu State, was visited by the Government of Enugu State and told to cede its ancestral joint farmland to the Government of Enugu State for “Mechanized Farming.” The land in question, “Ohege Farmland Settlement,” contains multiple acres and is very large. It was anciently retained as “joint farmland” where families seasonally cultivate and harvest. The land also has a history of protracted disputes, including long years of court cases between the Elugwu-Akwu-Achi and the Umuagu-Inyi, which ended in 1998 in favor of Elugwu-Akwu-Achi and has since then been preserved for seasonal farming and antiquity. It is further noted that several attempts and resistances have occurred in the recent past between the Community and past Governments of Enugu State. Recently, through one of the natives of the Community, a resident in Lagos, the Government of Enugu State visited in January 2024 through the State Commissioner for Agriculture, the Attorney General, the Surveyor General, and other top Government functionaries during which they informed the Community of the Government plans to take over the land for “mechanized farming.” The Enugu State Government also told the Community that “it will also partner with the Community” after “they have signed an agreement with the State Government ceding the land” and that “the unskilled workforce to be employed will be drawn from the area.”

It was further discovered that while some leaders of the Community were in haste to grant the State Government request, others raised the issue of a “Government Master Plan” for the project and demanded it. They also rejected the Government’s plan to “survey the land” and insisted on surveying it first. The Government of Enugu State was told to provide more information regarding “the Mechanized Farming” to convince them that the Land, if ceded, would not end up in the hands of herders, the Federal Government, and allied others (.i.e., the Miyatti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria-MACABAN and the Fulani Nationality Movement-FUNAM). The meeting ended with the Government of Enugu State promising to get back to them. Video clips of the meetings are attached to this statement for clarity and authentication.

Facts From Nimbo (Uzo Uwani): In Nimbo, Uzo-Uwani Local Government of Enugu State, the State Government recently denied strong allegations of planning to establish “a Fulani RUGA settlement” but admitted “planning to establish modern cattle ranches as part of its agro-industrial productivity agenda that would help curb the activities of kidnappers and other criminals who masquerade as herders.” According to the State Commissioner for Information, Aka Eze Aka, “It is a good initiative of government to use the ranch to further stem the tide of kidnapping and clashes between our border people and the herders.” “Enugu State Government is not engaging in any RUGA project in any part of the state and shall not do so. The ranch is not RUGA (Fulani word for “pastoral human settlement using grazing routes). “The intention of government is clear on the matter. Armed bandits and kidnappers, in the name of herders, have long taken advantage of our forests and farmlands to commit heinous crimes, abductions, r**e, and killings. The Government of Enugu State has resolved to put a stop to these and introduce ranching, the most modern way of rearing cattle…” The Government of Enugu also promised “to build a military base in the area to protect the people of the area and the “ranching.”
Facts From Abia: A series of protests have erupted in Abia State. Ill feelings (lousy blood) generated in Aro-Ngwa in Isiala Ngwa South Council Area over solid allegations that the State Government is clearing a large expanse of land for building a Fulani RUGA Settlement, forcing the State Government to respond that it is not “building Fulani RUGA Settlement but a trailer park.” According to the State Commissioner for Lands and Housing, Chaka Chukwumerije, “the Abia State Government is not clearing the land at Aro-Ngwa for RUGA, but is collaborating with the Federal Government for the construction of a trailer park to decongest traffic around Osisioma Ngwa roundabout; Umuika junction and Owerrinta bridge areas as well as generate revenue for the State Government.”
Facts From Anambra: In Anambra State, some communities, particularly those under Awka North and Awka South LGAs and others under Oyi, Anambra East, Anambra West and Ayamelum LGAs are witnessing large influx of Fulani Herdsmen usually at night and under reported the watchful eyes of the drafted security forces and the leadership of the Anambra State Vigilante Service (AVG). There have been strong allegations leveled against the State Ministry of Homeland Security and its Commissioner, accusing them of involvement in clandestine procurement or seizure of large communal lands for Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen. The above is to the extent that several calls by Intersociety on the Governor and Government of the State to comprehensively investigate it have remained unheeded to date. For more details, please look at the links attached at the end of this reportorial statement.
South-East Least In Allocation Of Landmass In Nigeria: The five core Igbo States of Anambra, Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo, otherwise called “the South-East,” presently occupy the most petite length and width of Nigeria’s total landmass of 923,952km2; to the extent that 78% of Nigeria’s landmass or 731,085km2 are located in the North as against only 192,867km2 situated in the South including South-South with 84,587km2, South-West with 79,755km2 and South-East with only 29,525km2. The country’s largest regional landmass allocation is found in the North-East with 272, 595km2 including Borno’s 70, 898km2; followed by North-Central with 235,110km2 including Niger State with 76,363km2 (roughly three times more than the South-East Region’s total landmass). The third Region with the largest allocation of landmass in Nigeria is North-West with 218,271km2, including Kaduna’s 46,053km2, which is one-and-a-half more than the South-East’s 29,525km2. The above statistical breakdown has clearly shown that indiscriminate procurement or seizure of communal lands in Igbo Land is jihadism-driven using state instruments and government-protected Jihadist Herdsmen terror.

Jihadist Herdsmen Saturate Oji River And Nine Of 18 Enugu LGAs
Intersociety has investigated and found since November 2022 that while Oji River has recorded the highest number of Jihadist Herdsmen incursions or presences in recent times in Enugu State, the State presently has the largest Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen presence in the South-East involving at least 22 communities spread across more than nine LGAs, including Awgu, Oji River, Nkanu East, Nkanu West, Udi, Uzo Uwani, Isi-Uzo, Enugu East, and Ezeagu.
End.

For: International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety)

Emeka Umeagbalasi, Criminologist-Researcher
Board Chair @ Intersociety

Chinwe Umeche Esquire
Head, Democracy and Good Governance Program @ Intersociety

Obianuju Igboeli Esquire
Head, Civil Liberties and Rule of Law Program @ Intersociety

General Contacts:
Phone/WhatsApp: +2348174090052
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://intersociety-ng.org

References

• https://intersociety-ng.org/focus-on-anambraunarmed-citizens-still-dying-from-false-security-intelligence-and-rogue-investigations-in-anambra/

• https://www.vanguardngr.com/2024/02/ruga-controversy-in-south-east/

• https://intersociety-ng.org/jihadist-genocide-of-christians-in-nigeria-bloodiest-in-2023-8222-hacked-to-death-from-jan-jan/

03/18/2024

Where are we as a people after the global pandemic?

Suffering From Heart and Brain Illnesses? It Could Be COVID | Vantage with Palki SharmaFor many of us, the COVID-19 pandemic is a distant memory. But its im...

03/18/2024

On March 14, 2024, Nigerian troops were ambushed in Delta State while responding to a crisis between the Okuama and Okoloba communities. The attack resulted in the deaths of a commanding officer, two majors, one captain, and 12 soldiers. The Chief of Defence Staff, Christopher Musa, ordered an investigation and the arrest of those involved. The President of Nigeria said the incident demonstrated the dangers faced by servicemen and women in the line of duty.

12/20/2023

Shout out to my newest followers! Excited to have you onboard!

Ifeanyi Ofem, Åblē Såílõr, Uroko Chibuike, Chinedu John

12/19/2023

ALLEN ONYEMA AND PEACE AIRLINE WICKED TO NDIGBO -- ---- Igbo Monarch

* Condemns high cost of flights tickets to S’east
A South East traditional ruler, His Royal Majesty, Eze-Igwe Williams Ezugwu, has strongly condemned the high cost of flight tickets to southern Nigeria, particularly the South East, calling for presidential intervention to end the ugly trend.

Eze-Igwe Ezugwu, who spoke in a statement issued in Abuja, called out the Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, saying that “it is unfortunate that airlines owned or controlled by South Easterners like Air Peace is also involved in this marginalisation of Igbos in Nigeria.

He argued that “in the days of Triax Airlines founded by Igbo philanthropist, Prince Arthur Eze, the defunct Enugu based domestic airline that operated between 1992 – 2000 would have taken Igbos home for free.

“Here is the Chairman of Air Peace, Barr Allen Onyema, priding himself as a rescuer who donates aircrafts for free to airlift Nigerians abroad but has joined in the unholy treatment of Igbos by transport companies and airlines owners, especially at festive seasons.

“How can it be cheaper to fly from Abuja or Lagos to Borno State than flying from Abuja to Enugu or Owerri?

“Why should it be cheaper to fly to Ghana from Nigeria than going to South East?”, he asked.

Urging the President to intervene, he said, “I think the attention of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should be called to this deliberate acts by airlines against southern Nigeria, particularly the South East.

“The Igbos are already bleeding under economic and political marginalisation in Nigeria and the airlines are worsening the situation. Today, even the well-to-do south easterners cannot breathe as a result of the high cost of airline tickets.

“If other airlines are unnecessarily expensive, Air Peace should not have joined in this deliberate inflation of flights tickets to South East”, the monarch said.

12/18/2023

Youth from Nigeria's South-East have shown apathy towards joining the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) over the years.

12/15/2023

MY Take On Nnamdi Kanu“s Supreme Court Judgment of December 15, 2023
=================

The judgment was actually a WIN for MNK in some ways. It confirmed that his extraordinary rendition & Invasion of home are both UNLAWFUL.

What this means in reality, is a confirmation that Nigeria is a LAWLESS ENTITY.

So, apart from the fact that his release was denied and his cross appeal dismissed, he actually had the REAL VICTORY.

The victory that the highest court in the land is confirming that the country is LAWLESS. That is loud！A self inflicted injury that will hunt and haunt the country and APC for eternity.

Secondly, the court has equally paved the way for MNK to come by means for CIVIL SUITS to claim damages for the Lawlessness done to him.

*** Chuks Ikedigwe.

12/13/2023

Rivers Crisis & Non Consideration Of Ijaws ：：Asari Blasts Tinubu Calls Him The Worst President Ever

The leader of Niger Delta Volunteer Force, Mujahedin Alhaji Asari Dokub has berated the Bola Tinubu over his position on the crisis rocking Rivers state, stressing that the President is the worst ever.

Asari who was vocal in supporting the President, in a viral video clip on Wednesday, said that some Niger Delta people, particularly the Ijaw ethnic group, are already angry with the present government and lamented that he earlier assured the Ijaw people that the government would perform well.

He, however, alleged that the present situation has indicated that the Tinubu administration is a nightmare for the Ijaw people.

Asari opined that the political crisis rocking the Rivers State is serving as a litmus test for President Tinubu’s administration.

According to him, if there would be “any fire” as a consequence of the alleged bad governance, it would begin in Rivers State.

He said, “This is the worst government. Ijaw people feel this is the worst government. This is a nightmare for them. When we were campaigning for you, many Ijaw people called and said “Presido, Tinubu is your friend oo, we hope he is not going to look the other way.

“And I assured everybody that if Tinubu fails, they should hold me responsible. Now they are asking me if I am still sure.

“Rivers State is a litmus test, if there is any fire, it will start in Rivers State.

“I cannot stop them. As an individual, I cannot stop them, I cannot even stand in their way”.

12/12/2023

GIRLS！
.....But Will They Learn？

"When I was younger and in the university, I met this man who was about 15years older than me. We met at my school canteen, he was so full of humor and friendly. We became very good friends as time went buy.

I never knew he owned a popular mobile accessories outlet in Imo State until he told me. He was always travelling out of the country and would always buy me expensive gifts from there.

After about 3 months, he asked me out and I told him that I needed more time to think about it. He wasn't happy with my response, he tried as much to convince me that he was deeply in love with me and wants to marry me.

He was very generous and very lovely not to accept, always pampering me as though I was his child. I loved him enough to say yes but somehow I kept feeling like it was just too early to dive into a relationship with him.

I am the first child of my parents but my dad is late. My mom on her own path was still too young to be a widow, taking care of a handful of us all by herself. We were like cat and rat because she didn't allow me do according to my youthful exuberance.

I wanted to be free from her by every means possible and that could only happen if I get married. I was so desperate to get married at such tender age but when that guy came to me, that desperation somehow dissapeared.

He kept calling me as usual and I eventually agreed to date him. He was soo excited with my response and told me that he would take me along on his next trip abroad. I thought he was joking at first but when he asked for my necessary documents to get me a passport, it dawned on me that he was serious.

He paid for an express passport and within a month, it was ready. He told me to prepare for the trip but make sure I don't carry much load because we would do shopping abroad and will eventually have excess luggages.

He asked me if any of my friends or family member was aware of our relationship and I said NO. He told me that he would prefer we keep it private and just between us until we come back from the trip.

I was soo happy and of course there was no need to tell my mom cos she will never consent to it. I was only worried that I would miss so many lectures and tests but he assured me that he has enough long legs to take care of them.

I packed my luggages at my hostel as he instructed even though he didn't tell me the exact day we were leaving. He just asked me to prepare and expect his call that week.

One evening around 9pm, he called and asked me if I was ready to move and I affirmed. He asked me to start coming out, sent me money to book a ride to the place he would be waiting to pick me. He asked me if I was sure I didn't tell anyone about our trip and I said yes.

My bolt driver arrived and just about 20mins we drove off, my mom called and asked of my whereabout. My mom is like an FBI, she instantly knows when you are lying and when you're saying the truth.

I told her I was on my way to see a friend and she started asking me what I was bent on ki.ll.i.ng her by always making her shout and get worried about me. She didn't care to know who, her concern was that it was so late at night.

She asked where I was meeting the person and I couldn't even say the name of the place correctly because I wasn't conversant with that area. At this point, I told her the truth about my new boyfriend and our trip.

I was still on call with my mom when my boyfriend started calling me. My mom ordered me to alight wherever I was and go back to school or come back home. I dropped mom's call and returned my boyfriend's call.

Immediately he picked, the kind of rage in his voice was a rude shock to me. He asked why I couldn't keep our little secret and I just spilled everything to my mom. How he found out, I couldn't tell. I tried explaining myself and he bounced the call on me.

I kept calling him and he didn't pick. I told the driver to stop and I paid him. I went back home from there because it was already do late at night to go back to my hostel. My mom dealt with me that night and seized my phone.

I still went ahead to try calling him with our neighbor's phone. Whenever he picks and hears my voice, he would drop and block the line. I gave up and forgot about him.

I completely forgot about him until 2 years later when I heard a rumour of his arrest concerning Hu.ma.n trafficking and how he takes girls abroad and sell them as s.e.x workers without their family having a trave of their child's whereabouts.

It was a big rumor because his brand was quite popular but after some weeks, the whole rumors cleared. I was shocked but couldn't open my mouth to tell anyone about my experience with him because my mom would make sure I start going to school from home.

I imagined what would have happened to me if my mom didn't call me on my way to meet him. Who knows where I would be by now? Nobody would have the slight idea of my whereabout etc. That was the day I adviced myself to be responsible.

That man is currently a king in one community and it's very unfortunate that people who should rot in jail are roaming free and respected".

12/09/2023

Why The North Suddenly Cares About Northern Lives

By Farooq A. Kperogi

It should be made clear from the outset that I am overwrought with immense grief by the heartbreaking but unintentional killing of 126 innocent men, women, and children celebrating Maulud at Tudun Biri village in Kaduna State on December 3.

Nothing can compensate for this. No excuse can rationalize it. And the outrage that this issue has generated against the Tinubu government is richly justified.

But it’s oddly hypocritical that there are suddenly vocal elements from the North—particularly the Muslim North, which went into a dreamless slumber during Buhari’s reign of bloodshed—carrying on as if this cruel, indefensible, even if involuntary, killing of innocent Muslims in the name of fighting outlaws is unprecedented.

Well, on January 17, 2017, the Nigerian Air Force also “mistakenly” dropped two—yes, two— bombs on an IDP camp in Rann, Borno State, which killed 236 innocent men, women, and children, according to Human Right Watch Nigeria’s revised estimate as reported by the Voice of America on January 24, 2017. The Nigerian military said it mistook the poor refugees for Boko Haram terrorists.

There was pin-drop silence from the Muslim North—and from the same people who’re—or pretend to be— outraged by and bent out of shape about what happened at Tudun Biri. Those of us who ranted and raved in righteous rage about it because Muhammadu Buhari showed scant concern for the lives that were snuffed out by the military he was commander-in-chief of were hushed up, harassed, attacked, and defamed.

In a January 21, 2017, Daily Trust column titled, “Buhari’s Gambian Gambit As Borno Burns,” I wrote the following words that have now somehow materialized, except for the little fact that Tinubu isn’t a southern Christian:

“Imagine for a moment that Nigeria’s current president were a man called Goodluck Jonathan (or, for that matter, any southern Christian), and the military ‘mistakenly’ dropped a bomb on hapless internally displaced Boko Haram victims, killing scores of them and critically injuring many more. Imagine again that such a president didn’t deem it worth his while to visit the state where this grievous tragedy happened, but instead chose to go to another country to resolve the country’s political differences. What would we northern Muslims be saying by now?”

Several of my fellow northern Muslims attacked me for this. My traducers were particularly incensed that I inserted scare quotes around the word “mistakenly.” They thought it implied that I meant Buhari had deliberately ordered the murder of civilians in Rann. But I merely inserted quotation marks because I was acknowledging that the military owned up to the killing and called it a mistake.

When Mubi, Adamawa State’s second largest town, was overrun by Boko Haram terrorists in 2014 and then President Goodluck Jonathan decided to visit Burkina Faso to resolve the country’s political crisis, he was roundly condemned in the country, particularly in the North. I wrote a stinging column on this myself.

“Amid the heartrending humanitarian disaster that Boko Haram has wreaked on Mubi, the president chose to travel to Burkina Faso to ‘resolve’ the country’s political crisis. Which sane person goes to put out another person’s fire while his house is up in flames?” I wrote in a November 8, 2014, column titled, “State of Emergency Amid Worsening Boko Haram Insurgency.”

But when I wrote to condemn Buhari for ignoring Rann and, like Jonathan, choosing instead to visit the Gambia to resolve the country’s political crisis, I got rhetorically violent pushbacks from the very people who should be hurt by Buhari’s blithe indifference to the tragedy in Rann.

All that Buhari did after more than 200 civilians were killed by two Nigerian Air Force bombs was to delegate an aide to issue a familiarly stereotyped expression of “regret” through his Twitter handle. Neither he nor his deputy physically traveled to Borno State to condole with and comfort the people.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s response to the Tudun Biri tragedy is comparatively better. Within a few days of the disaster, he delegated Vice President Kashim Shettima to visit the community and express his condolences.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu sent us to commensurate with the people of Kaduna over this tragic incident. The calibre of people that are here with me is a testimony [to] how deeply touched the president was by the incident,” Shettima said during the visit, as if to draw a contrast between this government’s response to a horrendous tragedy and the previous government’s response to a similar but more horrific involuntary mass massacre.

There’s always more that can be done, but that there was a presidential visit to the site of the tragedy—unlike in the past—is worthy of acknowledgement. I have advocated for this sort of empathetic leadership for years. I would be a hypocrite not to acknowledge it when I see it.

In condemning Buhari’s symbolic unconcern over the unintentional killing of IDPs in Rann, I wrote, “Now, a presidential national broadcast to mourn this tragedy and a personal visit by the president to give emotional strength to the bereaved won’t bring back the lost lives, but it would show respect for the dead and show that the president cares and takes responsibility for the fatal error of the people he is commander-in-chief of.”

There has been no presidential broadcast from Tinubu, but there was a presidential visit to bereaved families, yet the Tudun Biri tragedy has attracted more attention and anger in the North than the Rann one did. It’s obvious what’s responsible for the double standards: the ethno-regional identity of the president.

Had Buhari—or, for that matter, any northern Muslim—been president when the Tudun Biri Maulud merrymakers were involuntarily killed by the military, there would have been no expression of indignation from most of the people who are hyperventilating now.

Although Sheikh Ahmad Gumi was consistently critical of the Muhammadu Buhari government for eight years, which he undermined with his curious defense of bandits, he is increasingly coming across as merely using the Tudun Biri as an outlet to ventilate pent-up ethno-regional anxieties about a southern presidency.

That’s also true of former National Health Insurance Scheme DG/CEO Professor Usman Yusuf who became critical of the Buhari regime only after he was fired from his position. He is now furtively religionizing and regionalizing the Tudun Biri mass deaths.

”This is a religious procession,” Yusuf told Channels TV. “What would have happened if a religious Christian Procession in Plateau or Kaduna was bombed? Big Churches from the South specifically would have raised their voices all over Nigeria.”

This seems to me like an underhanded religious incitement because what the villagers were doing at the time of their unfortunate death was incidental to the fact of their death. They could very well have been at the marketplace selling goods.

Yusuf knows that the most effective way to rouse the raw passions of northerners, whether they are Muslims or Christians, is to make appeals to religion. Except that Yusuf’s attempt at religious manipulation is undermined by the reality that both the president and the vice president—and, to complicate things further, the two ministers of defense— are Muslims.

Why would they be interested in killing fellow Muslims? This same logic undermines Gumi’s claim that the Tudun Biri killing was “deliberate.”

Finally, Bashir Ahmad, former special assistant on digital communications to Muhammadu Buhari who saw no evil during Buhari’s reign suddenly went into an amnesic, conspiratorial frenzy over the Tudun Biri tragedy on Twitter.

“Haba! You can’t kill 126 innocent souls — a hundred and twenty-six civilians, and just call it a mistake. I can’t even remember a time when the troops killed such a number of terrorists anywhere in this country at once. , Nigerians are waiting to hear from you how this ‘mistake’ will be corrected and what measures you’d put in place to prevent a recurrence,” he wrote.

Thankfully, people shut him up by reminding him of Rann where 236 Muslims in IDP camps were mistakenly bombed to a cinder when Buhari was president and Buhari didn’t deem it worth his while to visit the survivors.

When your sense of rage and outrage is activated or suppressed by the primordial identity of the person in power, you have no conscience.