By Okechukwu Onuegbu
Claim: South east will boil any moment from
now because of their stubbornness-- Miyetti Allah
Conclusion: Fake news
Full text
A blog post by Akelicious,
published on June 4, 2019 says “ South east will boil any moment from now
because of their stubbornness-- Miyetti Allah
“Early this morning according to the leader
of cattle breeders in Nigeria. He expressed his shock on how serious the
governors of South East has been in their refusal to give them their lands for
cattle rearing. Leader of the group, Alhaji Gidado Siddiki, in a
statement issued in Abuja, said the
decision was surprising to them considering the cordial relationship that had
existed in the zone between the group and the five state government.
“He said that, since they are claiming to be
stubborn, and had refused to give us their lands in peace, it will be taken by
force and entire south east will be raided and taken over by herdsmen.
“He said Miyetti Allah had never failed to
appreciate the commitment of the host governors in ensuring their safety, even
in their rational insistence that their people must not infringe on the rights
of indigenous farmers to cultivate and harvest their crops without any
hindrance. He also mentioned that it's an insult that the Igbos do not value
anything that has to do with cow only their business and money and yet they eat
cow meats.
“Siddiki said: “It is evident that our
organization’s advocacy for peaceful coexistence among indigenous farmers and
herdsmen is increasingly making successes in the South East. “This explains our
surprise at the latest stand of the governors, which, if implemented, will not
only frustrate our people from carrying out our legitimate livestock rearing
business in this part of the country, but might be suggestive of a kind of
suspicion that might undermine the mutuality of the claim of brotherhood.
“We are mindful if the various negotiations
and consultations still going on in respect of the contentious issues of
ranching, colonies and grazing areas across the country, we are hopeful that
these issues are considered dispassionately in the interest of Nigeria and the
generality of it’s citizens.
“We of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders of
Nigeria, south east zone, consequent upon the existing understanding we enjoy
with our hosts, and in response to the latest stand by the south east Governors
forum, wish to reaffirm our confidence in the capacity of our host governors to
encourage the growth of our legitimate trade in their geo political zone.
“It is a very trying period in the history of
Nigeria and it is our candid view that the south east whose citizens are the
major bonding elements among the people of Nigeria, would provide exemplary
leadership in accommodating other Nigerians in their midst, in so far such
persons are legitimately engaged in their economic pursuits.” The South East governors
had at the weekend in Enugu, during their meeting, agreed that open grazing by
the cattle breeders would not be tolerated in the zone by any reason.”
The above post went viral
and was also published by different blogs under different headlines. Among them
are Community.biafland, Nairaland and others. On Akelicious blog, the post gathered 68 comments,
3.4k share on facebook and so on as at 4.24a.m (on June 15). It is still been
shared on WhatsApp and other social media platform despite a counter report
published by traditional media houses like Punch, Dailypost.ng, etc.
Verifying the story: IT IS
FAKE NEWS
The aim of this fact-check is not to establish if South East
people truly don’t allow herdsmen enjoy freedom of movement or residence
because there are no state in the zone without gariki (where Fulani
resides and sell their cattle. From there, herders travel to the hinterland as
well). The fact-check is rather concerned with possibility of the claim especially
the headline coming from the leader of MACBAN as reported by the blog. It also
wants to establish if the report is recent as published by the blog. In doing
this, the following findings were made;
First, it was discovered that only blogs published the claim.
Akelicious, the main publisher of the story seemed to be one of the propagators
of fake news because of several unedited and people copyrighted materials it
publishes without reference (or stating where those reports were sourced from).
Besides, the blog is neither registered nor run by a registered company in
Nigeria. It also, has no physical/identifiable address in Nigeria except phone
numbers.
Similarly, there is no notable or traditional media house
that publishes the report. Most of them like Punch, Dailypost.ng, and others
rather published a rebuttal from Siddiki (the man quoted of making the claim). Again,
from first to fourth paragraphs of the story say “the leader of cattle breeders in Nigeria,” “the leader of
the group, Alhaji Gidado Siddiki,” leaving its readers confused on actual
portfolio of the speaker. Please, note, there is no record of ‘Leader’ of
MACBAN but a National President. He is Alhaji Muhammadu Kirowa. Alhaji Gidado
Siddiki is the group’s Southeast Chairman. Does Siddiki function as both its
National leader and South East leader? No!
Also, the story where the claim was made has no byline (no
name of author attaches to it). Also, Google image reverse machine shows that
the picture attached to the story is not that of Siddiki (Southeast Chairman)
but that of Secretary General, Miyetti
Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Baba Ngelzerma as published by Channels TV on May 25, 2016. Similarly, the story
was not well structured; from its supposed lead to the end, are full of
grammatical and typographical errors. There is no conventional or traditional
medium which can publish such a story.
Why the story is fake news or a ridiculous made-up claim!
In our research, we found that Punch newspaper published a
similar report on July 12, 2018 under the heading, Miyetti Allah tackles
South-East govs for rejecting ranching. Authored by Tony Okafor, Awka, the
Punch report says, “The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria on
Wednesday described the rejection of ranches by South-East governors as
shocking and lack of discretion. “The South-East leader of the group, Alhaji
Gidado Siddiki, stated this in a press statement in Awka, Anambra State. He said the
group least expected such decision from the Igbo who he described as “the major
bonding elements among the people of Nigeria.”
“He added, “It was surprising to us considering the cordial
relationship that had existed in the zone between us and the state
governments.” Siddiki said Miyetti Allah had never failed to appreciate the
commitment of the host governors in ensuring the safety of his members.”
The South-East Governors’ Forum had at a meeting in Enugu on
Sunday unanimously agreed not to donate land for ranching in the zone. But
Siddiki in his statement said the governors’ decision did not show exemplary
leadership. He said, “It is our candid view that the South-East whose citizens
are the major bonding elements among the people of Nigeria would provide
exemplary leadership in accommodating other Nigerians in their midst.
“It is evident that our organisation’s advocacy for peaceful
coexistence among indigenous farmers and herdsmen is increasingly making
successes in the South-East. “This explains our surprise at the latest stand of
the governors which would not only frustrate our people from carrying out our
legitimate livestock rearing business in this part but might be suggestive of a
kind of suspicion that might undermine the mutuality of the claim of
brotherhood. “We are mindful of the various negotiations and consultations
still going on in respect of the contentious issues of ranching, colonies and
grazing areas across the country, we are hopeful that these issues are
considered dispassionately in the interest of Nigeria and the generality of its
citizens.”
Among the media houses which published the Punch 2019 story
were Businesstorch, Saharareporters, and Abiaonline. Thisdaylive published a
supposedly reply to that report issued by Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Therefore, it could be concluded that Akelicious lifted parts
of the report published by Punch in 2018; recast the headline mischievously, as
well as added some lines to suit him.
Tags
Factcheck