Writing in the Daily Trust, Leadership newspapers, and syndicated to some online news outlets on July 2, 2014, under the caption, “The danger of the Military Tail Wagging the Civilian Dog”, Mr Mohammed Haruna tried so hard to paint a picture of a conspiracy between the Federal Government and the Military to muscle out opposition in the country. He strove albeit unsuccessfully to impute negative motives to every action of the military and insisted that the government was behind every action, which he believed targeted the opposition.
Even at the risk of dignifying a bare-faced, slander-ridden and contemptuous article, let it be known that the views expressed by the writer indeed represents the mindset of those who wish that the present security challenges in the country would persist as long as their narrow interests are serviced. Nothing bespoke his stance more than his assertion, which seeks to question the democratic credential of the present dispensation and his attribution of the role of the military as simply as that of doing the bidding of the government in power.
That there is ample democratic space for every shade of opinion to thrive is trite and that simply explains why a compromised columnist like Mr Haruna can afford to contrive every known and unknown lies against the military and the government by extension and still have more balls to continue.
The cocktail of lies, which is what the article represents is at best a chronicle of twisted tales told by a hack-writer who obviously takes himself too seriously and believe he can divert public attention at will to suite his whims. Take for instance his reference to the security search of vehicles belonging to some media organizations. It is rather unfortunate that Mr Haruna does not seem to understand the precarious security situation in Nigeria. The question he needs to answer is: what is an aberration in subjecting the press to security search when there is intelligence need for it? What is so ‘unimaginable’ that the press was subjected to search when our national security is under threat by terrorists whom we have all come to realize have penetrated a lot of spaces?
Mr Haruna even tried so desperately to provoke religious sentiment by trying to impute negative motive to the recent closure of Maiduguri Airport for security reasons. How on earth can someone be so blinded by mischief that in his bid to undo others, he cannot even recognize an obvious danger. Has Haruna considered the security implications and dangers that over 300 pilgrims will be exposed to if they had used the airport to airlift the pilgrims? Has he thought of what just one terrorist can do to an aircraft loaded with 300 passengers?
Honestly, this is no longer the Mohammed Haruna we all used to read his articles with keen interest. It appears that senility has set in and he has lost touch with reality. I suggest that he should dry up his pen if it no longer spews the truth. Columnists are indeed opinion molders and we appreciate that. However, columnists who want to be taken seriously must be dispassionate in their analysis and commentary. They must not be weighed down by parochial sentiments like religion or region.
Written by Chidi Omeje, Abuja based Public Affairs/Security Analyst.
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