Insecurity, fake news and 2019 elections

The rising wave of insecurity and political tension in the country have become a matter of concern as the country heads to 2019 general elections in few months times.
From Boko Haram, kidnapping, cattle rustling, ethnic militias to killer herders, Nigeria is swimming in the tide of uncertainties.
Nigerians are living in fears.
The wanton destruction of lives and property continues to take a dangerous dimension.
In some northern states, bloodthirsty bandits are having a field day, sacking villages and killing defenceless masses.
These killings have defied lasting solution in spite of numerous operations launched by Mr President and chief of army staff.
The operation “harbin kunama” in Zamfara state, is strategically launched to contain the menace of cattle rustling and secure the affected communities.
In Benue state, the rampant cases of killer herders necessitated the launching of operation Ayem Akpatuma (cat race) to forestall strike from dangerous herdsmen.
In the Southeast states, Nigerians witnessed the launching up of operation crocodile smile to stem the tide of violent members of IPOB.
Unfortunately, the presence of these security personnel has failed to restore lasting peace in the affected states.
Instead, the insecurity continues to deteriorate on daily basis.
The abysmal failure of security agencies to bring to an end the continued carnage in troubled states of Benue, Taraba, Adamawa, Plateau, Zamfara and Sokoto indicated something is absolutely wrong with our security architecture.
It proves either the heads of our security agencies are incompetent or indirectly aiding these criminals to unleash terror on the country for selfish reasons.
We cannot entirely blame the present government on the rising of insecurity in the country.
Of course, Nigeria’s insecurity predates Buhari administration.
It has, however, worsened under its watch.
The questions are: why is the spate of killings increasing under this administration? Is there any correlation between abject poverty, unemployment and the present general insecurity? Is the insecurity related to desperation by some politicians to be in power as we approach the 2019 elections? Answers to these knotty questions will provide useful information on the circumstance surrounding the state of insecurity in the country.
While the country continues to grapple with numerous security challenges, purveyors of hate speech and fake news are not helping matters.
They have become cog in the wheels of finding lasting peace to the insecurity bedevilling the country.
Their actions have continued to ignite or fuel more crises than solving them.
Our political elite in connivance with religious leaders use any occasion available to paint their political enemies black.
Be it in political, religious or social gathering, these elite employ foul language to send combative messages to their opponents.
The blind political supporters are made to believe some leaders are their enemies and should be removed violently.
Their minds have been poisoned with religious and ethnic hatred.
The proliferation of fake news in our social media has become matter of great concern.
Nowadays, social media have become an avenue of spreading false, unverified and fabricated news among Nigerians.
One can just wake up and receive video cliff of horrific killings in other countries but attributed it to some ethnic or religion victims in Nigeria.
Sadly, without verifying the sources, we kept sharing it to our friends or colleague.
By so doing, we erroneously feed other gullible minds with wrong information.
Surprisingly, even the educated people become victims of the fake news.
They hardly verify the sources but hurriedly accept the content of the message.
There is no gainsaying the fact that fake news has been promoting division, hatred and suspicious relationship in the minds of Nigerians.
This has led to violence and tension that resulted in the killing of many innocent lives.
As the 2019 general election draws closer, the promoters of this dangerous business have equipped their arsenal and set to spread malicious and false news.
The federal government recently launched war against fake news.
This is a good initiative and should be vigorously pursued.
There is the need for aggressive campaign to halt it.
Insecurity, hate speech and fake news may make or mar the success of the forthcoming 2019 elections.
Ibrahim Mustapha, Pambegua, Kaduna state 08169056963