Tackling Rumour Mongering By Raheem Oluwafunminiyi

ith Nigeria (apologies to
Chinua Achebe), not because
we now have a clueless and
myopic administration, which
according to one of its aides,
is the most cursed in the
world, not because Boko
Haram has now spread its
tentacles towards Kogi state,
threatening to go East, South
and Westwards and not
because the country is
drifting towards anarchy and
disintegration. This writer’s
anger is far from these, for
anyone who lives in Nigeria
must be ready to expect the
un-expectable (apologies to
Nigerians who now have to
carefully look up the skies for
a landing plane).
This writer’s anger stems
from the fact that many of
those who claim to be holier-
than-thou, holier-than-thy-
pope and holier than past
prophets of God (not the
ones who adorn the crannies
of our religious and spiritual
edifices and call the name of
thy Lord in deceit), seem not
to understand that faith is a
strong thing which must not
be shaken at all in time of
trouble, trial or tribulation.
Faith as a conscious
phenomenon is a situation
where everybody in a desert
prays for rain on a Monday
and one person comes along
with an umbrella. Faith is
when one is swallowed by a
big Whale and lost for days in
the dark, yet is saved from
such vicissitudes of life. Faith
is just one vowel sound (not
the types we learn from the
mouths of our hungry and
less paying teachers these
days), which strangely starts
with an F and having no
affiliation with tags like Fatai,
Fallacy or Failure, as many
students in school are wont
to say, but meaning complete
trust and confidence in
oneself above every other
thing.
One may not be a traditional
worshipper or an ardent
follower of the free thinking
religious club, but this writer
so much have respect for
them simply because they
refuse to dwell their own
brand of faith on rumours
but on the fact that they
have nothing to fear for
when rumours abound. The
reason this writer had
decided to wax
philosophically is based on
the way rumours are spread
and how we allow them to
over-run our faith.
Well, rumours have always
been part and parcel of the
Nigerian society. It lives with
us almost on a daily basis.
The saying that rumours are
carried by enemies, spread
by the ignorant and accepted
by fools, paints a very good
picture of the attitudes of
Nigerians towards a rumour
(s). It attests to the weak level
of our orientation in
accepting rumours and
therefore, at the spark of
one, we all begin to seek for
caution rather than question
where such rumour
emanated from, who began
to spread them (even if this
is quite difficult), how it came
to be and why it was spread.
All we do is just accept them
hook, line and sinker.
This writer recall sometime in
the late 90s when the entire
country was overtaken by a
rumour that beans, which
served as one of the few
protein foods around was
poisoned by God knows who.
Suddenly, a shocking bedlam
set in. Almost every family
refused to buy beans and
those ones who had them in
large stock freely threw them
away. Compounding the issue
was the Nigerian press which
carried pictures and reports
of families who had died as a
result of eating a sumptuous
meal of beans. It could only
take the swift ingenuity of
retired General Muhammad
Buba Marwa to debunk such
flimsy rumours with a public
display of eating akara fried
by market women. At the end
of the drama, after so much
had been lost economically
and our psyche affected, it
was discovered that the
rumour only emerged simply
because some people wanted
a reduction in the price of
beans which at the time was
very high.
That was just one out of
many we usually do not hear
about, yet such rumours
continue unabated. Not too
long ago, there was a rumour
that the NYSC Orientation
Camp in Bauchi state had
been bombed by Boko
Haram at a time
apprehension and fear ruled
the air. For the timely
intervention of those who
matter, the issue would have
caused further belief that the
NYSC was totally helpless in
tackling security and safety of
corps members. As if that is
not enough, we almost on a
yearly basis are inundated
with a rumour that people
should not receive calls from
some strange mobile phone
numbers, when telecoms
companies have come out
time and again to say such
number(s) are or were non-
existent. One wonders how
much must have been lost
simply because many
Nigerians refused to either
make or receive a call to or
from a strange number for
fear of ‘vomiting blood’ or
‘dying’!
If we think the above cases
are enough, wait until you
read more. This writer
received a text message from
a friend months back who
read thus: ‘Please stop taking
orange! The Nigeria Police
has announced this morning
that they have confirmed 13
people dead in Lagos, and
the orange is spreading
faster. Please inform others.
Send this to all your friends
and family if you love them.’
If the text sounded absurd,
then wait to read another
shocking one which was sent
to via a Blackberry device:
‘Ensure that you do not buy
or eat water melon. We have
been informed that Boko-
Haram has poisoned trailer
loads of them which are
currently on their way to the
South. Please warn your
fellow Muslim.’ This writer
was further shocked to the
marrow when even siblings
refused to break their fast
with the water melon a
Hausa neighbour had given
as a gift weeks back. With
this, many business men and
market women who are into
the water melon business
would sure have been
counting their losses.
Just some few days back, it
was all over Facebook that
news had reached Nigerians
from surprisingly the Redeem
Camp along the Lagos-Ibadan
Expressway, that people
should not wear red attires
on a particular set date. This
writer was still surprised
when the Facebook post
quickly traced the news to
Pastor E.A Adeboye. Maybe
because this writer take
rumours unserious, that was
why such was shrugged off,
but when Baba Adeboye was
mentioned, it was not hard
to understood that mischief
makers were at their pranks
again. Not long again, a
friend quickly put a call
through telling this writer
about what she had heard
about the red attire story and
warned emphatically not to
wear such the next day.
Since this writer was surely
not ready to confront her,
the reply given was only to
please her.
Another rumour even went
as far as saying there was a
sanitary pad that had killed a
lot of women in Jos and
‘Anyone who puts it on
bleeds to death!’ said the
message. It was one of the
most hilarious of rumours
one had heard in years.
With these, it should be
understandable to many the
reason behind the anger
displayed by this writer.
Many Nigerians who claim to
attend church or mosque
every second are usually the
ones who readily accept
those nonsensical rumours.
They are nonsensical because
our mentality refuses to
probe yet swiftly accepts.
How in the world would red
attire adversely affect one
when it is put on? What
makes red attire attract evil
on a set date and not on an
ordinary day? Even if we
assume that wearing red
attire would cause harm,
would those who did not
hear the information be
affected? Of course out of
their ignorance some would
argue? Yet if we do not wear
a red attire and remain stark
naked all day long, are we
not covered by a red attire
which run through our veins,
keeping us alive? How
possible is it for trailer loads
of water melon to be
poisoned by Boko Haram
without people who are into
the business or even the
relevant authorities not
having a pre-monition on it?
How does a strange number
received from the phone
cause death to such person
when one can’t even make
any strange call from a
strange number without the
different network it passes
through detecting? What
would simply be in a sanitary
pad that makes women bleed
when actually such woman is
supposed to bleed as a result
of her monthly period?
It is true that in any ‘rumour’
so to speak, there is always
an element of truth,
however, one cannot just
fathom the ignorance and
lack of faith that eat deep
into our consciousness as
Nigerians when we hear
rumours that have no
evidence or fact behind
them. It behoves us as right
thinking people to always ask
critical questions when things
which ordinarily are absurd
to the ears or attacks our
sensibilities are dished on our
tables. It is true that one
needs to watch ones back,
but we must also watch our
front and sides to know
where the bullet is flying
towards. It is not enough to
claim we strongly profess a
particular faith for such faiths
clearly places a dichotomy
between belief in the
supreme and non-acceptance
of falsehood.
It is quite sad, however, that
the relevant agencies are not
doing enough to monitor
mischief makers whose job is
to spread falsehood and
rumours in the land. Aside
from the adverse economic
effect of these rumours, it
has simply led to unnecessary
crisis, fear and apprehension
in a nation where insecurity is
now a regular reality. The
National Orientation Agency
must step up its game and
come out of hibernation to
sensitize Nigerians about
rumours and rumour
mongering. This was usually
a norm during the military
era. Social media sites and
services rendered by mobile
phone companies and
networks should be
monitored so that quick
dissemination of information
on the authenticity or fallacy
of a particular rumour is
known by as many people as
possible to avoid crisis. Lastly,
when we as a people do
away with archaic reasoning
and allow our senses to be
enlightened on certain issues
that affects us in this
country, it is then we would
have challenged the saying
that ‘Nigerians are ignorant
because they lack
information’ and of course
the anger displayed by this
writer would surely have
abated.

Raheem Oluwafunminiyi is a
social commentator and
political analyst. He could be
reached via
creativitysells@gmail.com ; 

#CONSENSUS 2015