Patriotism and the myth of Metele massacre
So, it is said that about 100 soldiers died in the battle against Boko Haram in Metele and from all indications, people are ‘politicising’ the tragedy. The army finally agreed that soldiers too die. President SeeNo-Evil finally found his voice. Both are united in promising to look into the circumstances that led to the massacre. The army, as every Shia knows, does not make empty boasts. It has promised to prosecute anyone politicising the issue. Politicizing Boko Haram only happens when PDP is in power. Prosecution is better than ending up in mass graves as victims of any Shia procession knows. When it comes to dealing with protesters, soldiers never miss their targets. You’ll agree that things are a little different around the Lake Chad.
Things would’ve been better if we were patriots. Patriots of the APC hue believe nothing that has no broom signature on it. These true patriots totally; unquestionably and unquestioningly express their loyalty to their infallible government that promises heaven but delivers a hotter version of hell. The new patriot believes that government cannot be wrong.
The misinterpretation of patriotism is responsible for the substantial chunk of disagreements that eventually manifest as electoral violence. It breaks up long-term friendships. Some swear it is the hangover from years of military dictatorship. You can pull a general out of the military but you can’t excise the military definition of loyalty from him. In determining operational strategy, if a recruit had a better idea than a general, it dies in his stomach. If he voices it out, he’s executed for mutiny; if the operation succeeds by his plans, the general gets the medal. If your elected governor is unhappy with criticism, locks up people for their critical social media posts, they probably missed their original calling.
Stop fooling around. If you were in Pa Bubu’s shoes, you would have said the most populous thing in Naija - Mark Nsukaba, (no relation of my Newswatch Circulation Manager) abeg come and carry your thing away from this place, we’re not doing again; or is it by force?
Who wants to live in a country where everybody except the government is in control of news? Only members of the opposition. Every government hopes to control news, anything outside its control is dubbed fake news - ask Donald Dumb. If there were no social media, nobody would have heard of the assault on Metele. If government had its way, it would do another Naijaspeak - bloody civilian, who asked you to count corpses, essit your war?
Everywhere you go, people are exposing the yansh of government. Sai Baba promised change, then changed the change to change begins with me. Enemies checked the slogan and discovered that it is plagiarized. But government stood its grounds. Government cannot steal. Anything you invent belongs to your government and if you disagree government could declare you technically inconsequential.
It is shameful that the PDP has now planted another stolen, sorry, borrowed slogan. The mandate-renewal slogan #NextLevel was stolen by the PDP from an American university. But PDP claims that government stole the logo, design for design, grapheme for grapheme, and line for line. APC insists that government owns everything!
This rumour that 100 soldiers died at Metele is premised on the assumption that soldiers are human beings, born by people, married or marriable, able to raise children and qualified to be called parents. Only bloody civilians think like this. Once kitted, soldiers take on a new form, they become - soldiers. The nation becomes their parent and they in turn are government property until government declares otherwise. If not for fear, I would have sworn that Fela got it right.
It took government six days to acknowledge that something happened. As at the beginning of the week, they had yet to confirm any deaths. That’s because a rag-tag army of technically defeated insurgents could never kill 100 soldiers except they’re fighting zombies. When government declares anything ‘technically defeated’, that thing dies. If you are not well acquainted with military dynamics under vibrant generals and a strategic commander in chief to dispel this as rumours you shall have your day in court. If you protest, you die!
Patriots should never take any news from the frontline seriously without military confirmation. The secret things belong to the army high command; those rotund officers whose convoys tear through city traffic like hot knife through maishanu while their subordinates are sentenced to the elements. Until they declare a soldier dead, that soldier remains alive. Unlike their British and American counterparts who publish names, in war, Naija army never talks about numbers. To demand such accountability is treasonable hate speech.
Military statements, when they come at all, talk about ‘small casualties’ within its ranks and ‘heavy casualties’ inflicted on the insurgents. Patriots never dispute this. No serious patriot uses their brain when they have an elected government to think for them. To so-called critics who cry more than the bereaved here’s a parting word - except you embrace the new patriotism, you are a Khassoggi waiting for your day at a consulate in Istanbul.