Of Benue Killings, NTA And We All

NTA did not use report on Benue mass burial! Ehen, who do you blame? Even if Lai Mohammed or DSS instructed them not to use it, so there are no men and women of conscience and consciousness as well as conviction in NTA? So no Benue people in NTA? I’ve not heard that anybody came out to challenge the decision and was penalised or witch hunted. The truth is that we are a collective bunch of fearful, docile and ‘mouth making’ folks who like to always lie beside our wives every night. Nobody wants to go to prison! So we stay in the comfort of our houses, buy data out of our poverty and blame Buhari all day!

‘The police and security agencies are compromised, siding with Fulani herdsmen that’s why none of them have been apprehended’ is the narrative out there. So no men of truth again in the police etc? Even if there are no men of conscience in the forces, what of the Benue officers or Christians in the security agencies?that’s if we say its a religious war. Let’s stop deceiving ourselves jare. I’ve not heard that one sincere policeman was persecuted for trying to do the right thing in this regard. You will say: ‘no policeman can do against the wish of the hierarchy’ That’s where we get it wrong in this clime, we want to save our skin and remain in the good books of the so called ‘powers that be’ ‘Victorson what about you? You keep postulating’ I have not put out any creed I don’t live by. I have stood against the management of FRCN before and a Director led a team of other senior officers to physically assault me, I was carried like a criminal, dragged on the floor and I fought back and a deputy Director was ‘nakeded’ in the process and they said I tore his clothes. I no know who tear him cloth ooo. But when a whole deputy director was made naked everyone said ‘Victorson Agbenson is finished!’ But we stood our ground and the heavens did not fall. Years after we are still standing by the grace of the Grand Organised Designer- GOD!

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Why are we so terrified by mere men?

I have faced management panel, not because I failed in my official duties but because I stood for what I believe. I’ve had to face a panel because I stood with a fellow comrade, Solomon Adebayo. He himself has had to fight many battles with the so called ‘powers that be ‘This is an expressing I hate and I keep seeing Nigerians hiding under it to practice docility. ‘Order from Above’ you hear it and you cower like a rat that fell into water. A director asked police to arrest me when I shut the gate of radio house. I stood and waited for the ‘Olokpa’ to come and they couldn’t arrest me because we stood our ground.

I stood and declared of the management of FRCN, NTA VON etc. that “they were managing poverty!” since they keep blocking and breaking strikes and protests in the sector despite their complicated poverty; and it was aired like that on the network news of FRCN.

The heavens did not fall. The so-called ‘powers that be’ and ‘order from above’ is a myth to intimidate you and you fall for it.

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Where is the age long ideal and practice of telling truth to power? What happened to courage and boldness? Who replaced them with coldness and baldness?

Was is not a woman, Dora Akunyili, who found the courage to tell the cabal in the Yar’Adua days that the game was over?

Why are Nigerian politicians wailing:’ Buhari/APC have destroyed the country’ and they are still decamping from PDP which they say ‘repaired the country for sixteen years’ to APC?

When I aired the views of a Port Harcourt resident who rebuked the then minister of information, Labaran Maku, that ‘government should talk less and do more’ on FRCN I was dragged before Labaran but the heavens did not fall. Veteran Gbenga Onayiga knows the story because na Labaran friend.

Matin Luther the German monk told ‘the powers that be’ in his days: here I stand I can do no other!

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Question! Did the then FRCN management try to block some APC materials when they were in opposition? Yes, some top officials in the system did. Of course you know how these things play out. Often times its even self-censorship. For instance it was said that el-Rufai’s jingles were blocked in Kaduna. But how did we ensure that the voice of the opposition was not emasculated at FRCN headquarters? A few men – Solomon Adebayo, Stanley Nwosu, Victorson Agbenson and a few others kept standing up and defending the right of the opposition to being heard at editorial conferences. We do not regret that role we played. If the same scenario plays out as we approach 2019 we will again speak for the opposition which is today led by the PDP.

I ask: Where are Nigeria police officers who would ask like the apostles of Christ: is it better to obey men rather than obey God?

Why are we always afraid of the word Sack? Do you think it is easy for even Buhari to sack a public officer? Even if you are sacked is that the end of your life? Oh, u are afraid of being transferred to Sambisa or Abaji! Is that the end of your life?

Ben Egbuna was DG FRCN and when the then minister of state Information wanted him to employ a lady without interview he refused and even when the minister insulted and threatened him he stood his ground. Amidst other attempts from the ministry to shortchange the system which he rebuffed he was removed from office but not from the world. He left public office with his honour intact.

His successors ‘learnt’ from his ‘mistake’ and they accepted even goats as staff of the corporation just to survive the ‘mumu’ directives from ministers and legislators in the name of oversight. What was the outcome? These DGs stayed and enjoyed the filthy lucre of office unlike Mr. Egbuna but they destroyed the system. So we have dunces and untrainable folks manning sensitive positions in organisations like FRCN, NTA, VON and NAN. So ignorant politicians dictate how we should run our professional news organisations.

One small man doing the right thing in his small corner somewhere can do great things everywhere. If you don’t believe ask a small woman called Rosa Parks. It was she who sparked the revolution that Martin Luther King rode on to the fame amidst the black struggle in America.

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You love Gani’s guts but you don’t want to speak the truth and face the consequences. You admire Agbakoba’ activism but you don’t want to have a black eye, you praise Fela’ frankness but you don’t want your Kalakuta to be burned. You are fascinated by the boldness of Pastor Tunde Bakare but don’t want DSS to arrest you. You are inspired by Abdul Mahmud but you loath prisons. Go and ask him of his experiences in the gulag. You are impressed by the sagacity of Nwagwu Ezenwa Samson but you don’t want to be incarcerated. You love the depth of Eze Onyekpere but you can’t spend sleepless nights in research. You can’t be a general without scars. If you have not been saying something nobody will call you and give you a podium to say it so that all can hear well.

Nigeria will get better when we are all ready to sleep in jail. Stop pretending!

Agbenson writes from Abuja

Disclaimer: This article is entirely the opinion of the writer and does not represent the views of The Whistler.

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