In the immediate aftermath of the unexpected death of the 42nd Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Ibrahim Attahiru, together with seven other officers and three air force personnel in a plane crash, two issues emerged, namely, fake news and how Nigerian elite empathise with those that lose their loved ones. I am here discountenancing conspiracy theories about the tragic incident by careless talkers. The fact that we have had about three crashes of military aircraft with no known survivors and the aircraft literally burnt to ashee, so to speak, has given idle prattlers an opportunity to indulge in their past time of rumour mongering. Death can come at anytime, unexpectedly and even through negligence of a kind or other. But to begin to spin dangerous conspiracy theory cum rumours immediately afterwards is tantamount to a lack of appreciation of the gravity of the occasion and the need to respect the memory of the dead, at least for some time. An inquiry has been launched and all should desist from making conjectures about cause of the crash until the report is released. For now, it should be regarded as an accident, full stop. Unpalatable rumours add to the emotional pains of the bereaved families rather than easing it. Only those who have experienced the grief from inside their soul arising from the demise of a loved one would understand that what the bereaved need in the immediate aftermath of their loss is a comforter, not a rabble rouser that hurt them more with careless, piercing talks of what might have been. Here is a glimpse of such inner sorrow, from the lamentations of widow of the pilot, Mrs. A A Olufade, “… I am pained; my whole wide world is crumbled… Where do I pick my pieces from…? I don’t even know what to think. I can’t sleep, can’t eat, I can’t think straight, only you God….”
I am also shoving aside those that appeared to be rejoicing at the passing of the army chief. We can only consider them as men of the under-world, not fit to be called human beings. Any human being in the true sense of the word, would surely, intuitively feel depressed at such happening – an aircraft going up in flames as it breaks into pieces upon crash landing with all passengers burnt to death – even if it occurred at the other end of the world, involving people that are complete strangers to us, how much more your own compatriots. While our loving thoughts and prayers go to the departed, all attention should zero in on the colleagues and dear relatives they left behind. These should be enabled to wade through this extremely trying times in their earth lives without much untoward backlash, to help them stabilise as quickly as possible and psychically, spiritually stronger. This relates especially to the women with whom they related intimately, namely, fiancées, wives, and mothers. For, it is a turning point for these women and other close relatives It is heartwarming that after the furore of the president and vice president’s ‘inability’ to attend the deceased officers’ funeral, the first lady and her children visited the late COAS’s widow and his relatives to condole with them in their residence. Similarly, the vice president’s wife paid a condolence visit to the home of one of the departed air force personnel. Mr. President also had a telephone conversation with relatives of all the fallen heroes. Still, President Muhammadu Buhari as commander-in-chief has to find a way to personally meet the bereaved relatives as well as the military high command to convey in face to face interaction, his ‘heartfelt condolence’ to them while relaying words of encouragement to them. Representatives of the military authorities as well as relatives of the departed could converge in two separate locations for this much desired personal address to them by the commander-in-chief.
Fake news practically grew wings upon the demise of the Chief of Army Staff and others in that ill fated flight. First, it was falsely reported that the COAS wife, was also among the dead. This was even before the military authorities released authentic names of those aboard the Beach craft air force plane. This was very dangerous. Imagine, any of the close and distant relatives, friends, colleagues and associates having to read that the couple died in the crash, the shock it would have caused them and its consequences by way of possible heart attack. Sadly, the fake news was carried by a conventional newspaper and quickly replicated by the social media where it spread like wild fire. The newspaper later apologized for its error but who knows if some people’s heart had bleeped before the correction? Social media as usual, went into an overdrive of its own. First was a video that purported to show how the tragedy happened. Of course, this trended as people were anxious to see how such a monumental national catastrophe occurred, so it garnered thousands of views. Alas it was fake as some eagle-eyed viewers noticed that the environment was not that of Kaduna where the plane crash landed. Thanks to the fact-finding mechanism, it was later confirmed that this was an old video of an air force plane that crashed in Abuja some three months ago. Then out of the blues, social media told us that “President Buhari has appointed Brigadier-General Ali Keffi, the Commanding Officer of the Kaduna Division as the acting chief of army staff”. Apart from dropping the name of the president, there were no quotes from either the presidency or the military announcing such an appointment. Again, it turned out to be fake as there is no official communication from the relevant authorities to that effect.
Social media thrives on ‘likes’, clicks to make it by way of financial returns. So, they prey, pounce, conjure stories that are dear to the hearts of readers, that would attract traffic in form of clicks by engendering curiosity of readers among others, not minding whether their stories are true or false. Most of their stories are speculative, from unnamed sources, formulated by a fertile, imaginative intellect with scant regard for ethics of the journalism profession with number of clicks rather than integrity as their watchword. As it is, they have started feeding us with speculative names of those that are in line to be appointed as replacement for late General Attahiru. Next they would inundate us with stories of intense lobbying being undertaken by the candidates, to be the anointed one, plus (speculative) names of powerful traditional rulers, influential Nigerians including former heads of state and former presidents that are backing each of the names being touted. They divert attention from our collective grief of the moment.Ikeano, a journalist, writes via [email protected] 08033077519
