By Azuka Onwuka
Recently, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar, called social media “a terrorist organisation.” When the news broke, the first reaction of most people who heard it was that of disbelief. It sounded like something some faceless mischief-makers fabricated and shared online. But a quick check on the websites of trusted TV channels confirmed that he made the comment on camera. And he didn’t say it once.
Speaking at the 7th Executive Committee Meeting of the Northern Traditional Rulers’ Council held in Maiduguri, Borno State, the royal father advised security agencies to crack down on social media as a terror group. To understand his comment fully, it is good to quote copiously from his speech. The Sultan said among other things:
“If you say all Fulanis are criminals, then I am one. I am the leader of the Fulanis in this part of the world. Unless you say that I am also a criminal, or a bandit or a kidnapper. But these are issues we need to talk about. We don’t throw away our ethnic backgrounds. No. We are proud of that. Almighty Allah brought us to where we are. So, we have no problem with that. I am a very, very proud Fulani person. I say that all over the world. Whether it’s in Washington… I have said it. If you don’t know what Fulani is, please read books. If you don’t know what Kanuri is, please read books. Everything is there. That is why we thank the government for bringing back history. Some of us try to block history books as if history does not exist. You can’t erase history. You can’t. What has happened has happened, and it is there.
“You can’t come through social media… that is one terrorist organisation: social media. Social media is a terrorist organisation. What they do … Somebody will sit in the comfort of his room and formulate stories and you will say that is true. Social media is a terrorist organisation that we must deal with. Security agencies must deal with this terrorist organisation called social media.”
For those who were trying to explain away his comment, the Sultan called social media a terrorist organisation four times. If he had done it once, one could argue about the context being different from what it was interpreted to be. But the Sultan was emphatic and repetitive to drive his message home. He went further to say twice that this “terrorist organisation” should be clamped down on.
Watching the full speech, one could see that the Sultan condemned the killings in the North, especially in Plateau State. However, the area a speaker lays more emphasis on shows the speaker’s area of focus or preference. Clearly, the Sultan is more irritated by the activities of those who post things on social media than those who commit murder and abduction almost daily all around him. He called them criminals but called social media a terrorist organisation.
The comment would have sounded weird coming from any leader. But coming from the Sultan, who is the head of Muslims and Fulanis in Nigeria at a time Fulanis were accused of systematically massacring communities in the North-Central states of Benue and Plateau, irked many people. In April alone, about 250 people were killed in different communities in Benue and Plateau. In the North-West, states like Zamfara and Katsina have many local government areas in the hands of bandits, who are mainly Fulanis. They are terrorising the communities, killing them, abducting their indigenes, taking over the girls, collecting ransoms from them and levying protection fees on them.
Note that the killings in Benue and Plateau were not communal clashes between neighbours over disputes of boundaries and the like. The Fulanis don’t share boundaries with the communities in Benue and Plateau. What happened was an invasion of the communities. There has not been any denial that these attacks are carried out on communities by Fulanis who complain that their cattle are rustled. Shortly after the attacks, the Coalition of Indigenous Fulani Registered Organisations in Plateau State called a press conference in Kaduna and issued a set of conditions that should be met for peace to return to Bokkos Local Government Area. No sensible person would say that all Fulanis are criminals. But the groups that have attacked different communities in the North-Central and some other parts of Nigeria are Fulanis.
Many wondered how the Sultan’s kinsmen were repeatedly attacking communities, but he would not call them terrorists, while he found it okay to call social media a terror organisation and ask security agents to crack down on it. As a traditional ruler who can be deposed by the governor of Sokoto State, the Sultan does not need to criticise the federal or state government. Therefore, he does not need to complain about the high cost of goods in Nigeria, the hunger in the land, and the ostentation of politicians at a time when people find it hard to feed. But nothing stops the Sultan from condemning in strongest terms the activities of the bandits and herdsmen who have been repeatedly shedding the blood of Nigerians and creating a bad name for Fulanis.
In his speech, the Sultan explained that insecurity occurred in different parts of the world. He even noted that some countries had worse levels of insecurity than Nigeria. All that is true. But why did he also not remember that social media does worse things in many countries than in Nigeria?
What is the crime of social media? It has empowered ordinary individuals to be able to publish news, share their opinions and criticise leaders. In the past, for individuals to express their views on any issue, they had to depend on newspapers, radio and television stations. And because the media houses were the channels of communication, they were also gatekeepers. They could decide what words to cut off from an interview or article. They could decide what stories to completely suppress or delay until they became stale. Social media took that power away from the media and handed it over to individuals.
Sultan Abubakar is a retired Brigadier General. Soldiers, especially those trained in Nigeria, where soldiers have been made to believe that they are above other citizens, usually don’t like their authority questioned. They believe in issuing orders and having them executed without any questions. Therefore, platforms like social media ask questions and don’t know how authorities feel dangerous to them.
Another factor is that social media has no boundaries unlike the traditional media which could only circulate within Nigeria. In the past, politicians and security agents could get anybody arrested merely for expressing an uncomplimentary opinion. But social media has made it possible for a Nigerian to express an opinion from Australia against the politicians in Nigerians. The politicians in Nigeria cannot do anything against the person.
It is that frustration of not being able to clamp down on those who express their views on social media that makes many political, religious, social and business leaders repeatedly express strong opinions against social media. But it is a waste of time. Social media is going nowhere. Nigeria is a democracy. It cannot go against social media without endangering the so-called democracy that it claims to practise.
There are many problems in Nigeria and the North that the Sultan can express anger at. The 20 million out-of-school children in Nigeria, most of whom are in the North, are a danger to the peace and progress of Nigeria. No country can hope to have peace with such a humongous number of children not going to school. The religious and ethnic intolerance that has claimed so many lives should worry the Sultan more. The insecurity of lives and property should be another headache to the Sultan. These three factors cause more terror to Nigerians than social media.
— X: @BrandAzuka
