By Moses Ochonu
ABUJA (Sundiata Post) The massacre of 40 traders/villagers in Zamfara yesterday by an armed militia will not trend as much as other massacres because…
1. The ethnic register does not work there. There are probably Fulani people on both sides of the conflict, so the trope of inter-ethnic or ethno-religious crisis does not fit. Na dem dem, so critics of the president’s poor performance in the security sector who are outside the North are not too interested as it adds little to their narrative.
2. The President’s supporters, many of whom are already angry with us for highlighting the herdsmen massacres in Benue and other places, are hesitant to highlight the ongoing killings in Zamfara because they think it will further underscore the growing impression that Buhari has lost control and that the country is falling apart and becoming a Hobbesian jungle under him. The Buharists believe that the focus in traditional and social media on these massacres and on the growing insecurity have diminished and damaged Buhari, and they blame the president’s detractors, so why give more ammo to the enemy by highlighting what’s going on in Zamfara?
So, in a strange convergence, the president’s supporters and his critics have contributed to the relative silence that has greeted the latest Zamfara massacre and the years-old Zamfara killings. The two opposed groups have inadvertently conspired to deny visibility to the ongoing atrocities in Zamfara.
This is what politics, blind, uncritical loyalty, and lack of humanity have done to us.
May the deceased find peace and rest in the hereafter.
Source: Facebook
